Ministers have announced a ‘Great British Rail Sale’, offering savings of up to 50% on more than a million off-peak fares, billed as the shape of things to come under forthcoming reforms to the sector.
Operators' body the Rail Delivery Group said that the promotion covers ‘select Advance tickets’, including York to Leeds, which was reduced from £5.60 to £2.80 and London to Edinburgh cut from £44 to £22.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said the promotion, which covers all DfT-contracted firms in England, ‘sees for the first time multiple operators come together to offer nationwide savings’.
Until privatisation in the 1990s, the rail network operated as a single entity.
Officials said that reforms to the rail sector through the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail mean that ‘network-wide sales of tickets can occur more easily in the future’.
The rail industry is currently in a halfway house between the franchising model and the Great British Railways model set out in the Williams-Shapps Plan, meaning that rail firms collect fares on behalf of the Government, which takes the revenue risk.
The DfT told Transport Network it had supported industry to develop and deliver the sale. Although it presented the scheme as a way of easing ‘some of the pressure on family finances’, it said it was ‘run on a commercial basis’.
Tickets went on sale on Tuesday (19 April) with discounted tickets available on journeys from 25 April to 27 May.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps said: ‘For the first time ever, operators across the rail industry are coming together to help passengers facing rising costs of living by offering up to 50% off more than a million tickets on journeys across Britain.’
However, Louise Haigh MP, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, said the move followed ‘a decade of brutal Tory fare hikes that have priced people off the railways’.
She said: ‘This temporary respite will be small comfort to passengers who had thousands taken out of their pockets from soaring fares since 2010.
‘And the decision to end the sale just before half term will mean many families face the same punishing costs over the holidays.’
Norman Baker, from Campaign for Better Transport, a former transport minister, said: 'I hope the take-up of this offer will attract people onto trains and actually end up generating extra money for the government. It can show the Treasury that the way to increase income is to cut fares, not keep ratcheting them up and driving people off the railway. This initiative, though very welcome, is but a first step.'
Register now for full access
Register just once to get unrestricted, real-time coverage of the issues and challenges facing UK transport and highways engineers.
Full website content includes the latest news, exclusive commentary from leading industry figures and detailed topical analysis of the highways, transportation, environment and place-shaping sectors.
Use the link below to register your details for full, free access.
Already a registered? Login
