Train fares: rail firms call for ‘root and branch’ reform

Present ticketing system deemed unfit for purpose – but changes mean some fares would rise

Above the ticket counter at London Charing Cross station is an advertisement for Les Misérables – an appropriate choice, to judge by research from the Rail Delivery Group (RDG). A survey showed two out of three passengers walk away from the ticket window unsure if they have paid the right fare.

Anyone who buys a standard anytime ticket from Charing Cross to Ashford International is entitled to a twinge of misery when they discover that they have overpaid.

The shrewd traveller will have bought “split” tickets: one as far as Staplehurst, a leafy station in the hop country of deepest Kent where the train pauses, and another from there to the Eurostar interchange at Ashford.

This is no rare aberration: countless journeys in Britain offer savings to anyone who can be bothered to tap the details into one of the split-ticket websites.

Since rail privatisation began in 1995, UK rail fares have become progressively more complicated, with a vast array of new ticket variations but no cull of the fare types that were “baked in” when British Rail was broken up.

Innovative train operators are hamstrung by the Ticketing & Settlement Agreement of 1995, a 415-page document designed for an era before the smartphone – and the budget airlines, who have transformed public attitudes to ticketing.

The document, to which every train operator must adhere, stipulates that each of the 2,500 stations in Britain must have a fare to all of the others – an obligation akin to forcing easyJet and Ryanair to offer through-tickets to airports worldwide.

Train operators must store details of 55 million different fares, and promise to provide any customer with a small piece of printed cardboard entitling them to transportation, just as they have for almost 200 years.

Now, train operators have called for a move from the 19th to the 21st century – and for a bonfire of well-intentioned regulations that have made for a hellishly complex railroad.

The rail industry, together with the independent watchdog Transport Focus, is launching a public consultation “to establish a roadmap for change to update fares regulation and make things easier for customers”. It will run from 4 June to 10 September.

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the RDG, representing train operators and Network Rail, said: “We want to work in partnership to drive root and branch reform of well-meaning but outdated fares regulation.

“Unpicking the regulation of a £10bn-a-year fares system that underpins such a vital public service means there are no quick-and-easy solutions. The change that’s needed won’t be easy and the industry doesn’t have all the answers, which is why we want to hear views from passengers, communities and businesses in all parts of the country.”

Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, said: “Rail passengers want a simpler, more understandable and modern fares system which matches the way we now travel.

“Opening up the debate and looking at the pros and cons of various reform options is welcome. Transport Focus will make sure the passenger voice is heard in these debates.”

The final proposals will be handed to the government. But passengers cannot expect rapid change. The rail industry intends the simplification process to be “revenue neutral”. Some fares will fall, which inevitably means others will rise. It remains to be seen if any transport secretary is prepared to promote a politically toxic scheme that includes fare rises above inflation.

Meanwhile, even as new trains and routes are introduced, long-standing anomalies prevail.rom 20 May a new, regular link from Cambridge to Brighton begins. Anyone buying a ticket on the 8.54am departure will be charged the full peak fare of £48.20, even though the train becomes an off-peak service by the time it arrives in London St Pancras. Travellers can overcome this absurdity and save 12 per cent – but only by splitting their ticket.