Freeze rail fares

Cost of living crisis
The pandemic has inevitably harmed the economy and inflation has risen to levels unseen for 30 years. This cost of living crisis is biting with the cost of food and fuel rising and wages stagnating. According to the Resolution Foundation, the Chancellor’s failure to support families through the crisis today, and to cut their taxes in the future, means that absolute poverty is expected to rise by 1.3 million people next year, including 500,000 children.

Support key workers
Throughout the pandemic our staff have kept the railway running because it’s been a vital service to ensure key workers in healthcare, food distribution and many other relied-upon services could keep running. It is wrong to punish those who have to use public transport and as workers are returning back to the office they should be able to use affordable and reliable public transport.

On average, staff commuting from Chelmsford to London spend 13% of their earnings on travel costs. In France, a similar journey from Étampes to Paris would eat up just 2% of the average worker’s wages.

Bring passengers back to rail
A thriving leisure and tourism economy relies on its railway for day trips and to welcome international visitors. In many cases the high fares in the UK is prohibitive and off-putting. But freezing fares passengers would be encouraged to choose rail over aviation and road. Linking the network with Europe through Eurostar would benefit reciprocal travel.

Invest in rail
Putting money into the rail industry is good for the economy. The National Infrastructure Commission found that if rail investment is increased by 50%, the rail sector would contribute an additional £5.6billion to the economy, with an extra 104,000 individuals employed in the industry as a result. And Oxford Economics’ research calculated that for every £1 spent in rail, £2.50 of income was generated in the wider economy.

Freezing fares opens up the networks and boosts the economy.

Environmental targets
We cannot ignore the climate crisis and public transport is part of the solution to help us reduce the country’s carbon footprint, and providing efficient and affordable alternatives to traveling by road and air. Bringing the cost of rail travel is crucial to meeting these targets.

Public Health England published statistics that demonstrate that air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK, with between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths a year attributed to long-term exposure.

Instead of bailing out airlines, the government should invest in rail and stop putting CO2 into the atmosphere.

We call on the government to prioritise investment in rail, reduce fares for workers and commit to reversing the damaging effects of the climate emergency.