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The Bench Report
Fixing Britain's Railways: The Plan for Simpler, Fairer Fares
Ever felt confused or ripped off buying a train ticket? You're not alone. This episode explores why the UK's rail fare system, with 50 million different fares, is so complex and untrustworthy. We'll look at the government's plan to fix it, including new pay-as-you-go systems and flexible ticket trials on lines like LNER. We also cover the major challenges ahead, from the railway's poor financial state to staff shortages, and what "simplification" really means for your wallet.
Key Takeaways
- The UK has 50 million different rail fares, creating a system that passengers find confusing and untrustworthy.
- The government is tackling this complexity in pieces, starting with pay-as-you-go systems in major urban areas and testing simpler long-distance fares on LNER.
- "Simplification" doesn't automatically mean cheaper tickets for everyone. To reduce the number of fare options, some prices may go up while others go down.
- Deeper problems like an ongoing driver shortage and infrastructure issues also contribute to unreliable service and must be addressed alongside fare reform.
Important Definitions and Concepts
- Fare Simplification: The process of reducing the huge number of ticket options to make the system easier to understand. This is a complex task, and the government must balance the new prices, meaning some may increase while others decrease.
- Great British Railways (GBR): The new public body that will eventually run the railway system. It is intended to simplify processes like claiming compensation for delays and creating more consistent fare structures.
Discussion: The government acknowledges that simplifying fares might mean some ticket prices go up. Do you think it's fair for some passengers to pay more if the overall system becomes more transparent and easier to use?
Source: Rail Fares
Volume 848: debated on Thursday 18 September 2025
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Contains Parliamentary information repurposed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0....
Thank you.
Amy:Hello and welcome again to The Bench Report, where we discuss recent debates and briefings from the benches of the UK Parliament. A new topic every episode. You're listening to Amy and Ivan. Our mission today is understanding the UK government's attempt to tackle, well, the labyrinth that is British rail fares. Passengers don't just find the system confusing. There seems to be this core distrust, a sense that they're being fundamentally ripped off every time they book a ticket.
Ivan:And that feeling, you can understand it when you look at the sheer scale of the problem. Over 30 plus years, the current fair structure has, well, it's ballooned. Some in the debate described it as having grown like Topsy. We're talking over 50 million distinct fairs across the network.
Amy:50 million? That's staggering.
Ivan:It is. It's such an intricate mess that, you know, even past secretaries of state like Lord McLaughlin, they admitted previous attempts to simplify it were, frankly, a complete failure.
Amy:So how do you even begin dismantling a labyrinth of 50 million fairs? That sounds almost impossible.
Ivan:Well, the minister you the phrase, eating the elephant in pieces, which essentially means tackling it regionally first. They're focusing on implementing pay-as-you-go systems, starting in high-density areas. London in the southeast, Greater Manchester in the West Midlands.
Amy:Okay, so targeted rollouts.
Ivan:Exactly. And on top of that, they're running digital pay-as-you-go trials in places like the East Midlands and Yorkshire, gathering data, seeing what works before, you know, attempting any national overhaul.
Amy:Which brings us to I suppose the really crucial dilemma. Passengers want simplicity, yes, but mainly they want cheaper fares. Does simplifying 50 million fares actually guarantee lower prices for everyone?
Ivan:Ah, that's the essential trade-off, isn't it? And it was a core concern raised by Lord Moylan in the debate. When you simplify and rationalize such a fragmented system, well, the unavoidable outcome is that some individual fares must go up while others hopefully go down.
Amy:So rationalization doesn't automatically mean cheaper.
Ivan:Not universally no. You can't simplify without making some changes. It's similar to what happened with past rationalizations on the tube network. And crucially, this is all happening while the railway is already in a, quote, very bad financial position. It needs twice the subsidy it did pre-COVID.
Amy:Twice the subsidy. That's a huge figure. And that financial cost must be tied directly to operational failures, surely. What were the key performance issues being discussed beyond just the complex pricing?
Ivan:Yes. The fragmentation down Definitely impacts reliability. Two main causes of delays and cancellations came up repeatedly. First, the widely known driver shortage. It's a major cause of cancellations.
Amy:We hear about that a lot.
Ivan:We do. And the government is now responding by making the number of drivers an input measure, something management controls directly in the business plans for train operating companies.
Amy:An input measure. So focusing on recruitment rather than just punctuality.
Ivan:Precisely. Forcing them to address the root cause rather than just measuring the outcome, like delays.
Amy:And the second major issue.
Ivan:Inherited problems with infrastructure and especially the train fleets. Take Southwestern Railway as WR as an extreme example. They inherited a fleet of 90 trains. At one point, 84 of those 90 were just sitting unusable in sidings.
Amy:84 out of 90 sitting idle. That's hard to comprehend.
Ivan:Really highlights the depth of the inherited mess. Today, they only have 21 of that particular fleet actually in service. It's a huge long-term challenge. And then there are stranger issues causing slowdowns too. On the historic Salisbury to Exeter line, for instance.
Amy:What's happening there?
Ivan:Journey times have been extended because of something called soil moisture deficit. Essentially, the ground under certain embankments is shrinking.
Amy:Shrinking ground.
Ivan:Yes, which makes steep cuttings a safety concern, meaning trains have to operate at much slower speeds on sections of that line.
Amy:Just adds another layer of complexity. And speaking of complexity, what about compensation? The delay-repay system isn't exactly straightforward, especially No, it's
Ivan:notoriously difficult. That complexity is one reason why the new public sector body, Great British Railways, or GBR, is intended to simplify the whole claims process once it's fully up and running. But there is some innovation happening already. LNER, for example, has trialed semi-flexible tickets.
Amy:Semi-flexible? How does that work?
Ivan:It gives passengers a window. I think it's plus or minus 70 minutes around their book time. They're proving very popular. And interestingly, there often priced below the super off-peak fare. It shows that different approaches, different methodologies are starting to emerge and can actually benefit passengers.
Amy:So wrapping this up then, what does this all mean for you, the passenger? The government is trying this balancing act, aiming for simplicity, but dealing with massive financial needs in these deep operational problems, from trains to drivers to, well, shrinking ground.
Ivan:And it raises a fundamental question, I think, for the future of accountability on the Cancelations are so often linked to driver shortages, the government is now tying performance directly to a management input, making sure companies hire enough drivers. Is shifting the measure of accountability away from purely passenger outcomes, like punctuality, towards management actions? Does that fundamentally change how the railway is run and who is held responsible? That's certainly something to watch closely.
Amy:As always, find us on social media at BenchReportUK. Get in touch with any topic important to you. Remember, politics is everything. Take care.
