Rail fares will be frozen for the first time in 30 years in a bid to help people with the cost of living, the government has said.
The move means that a typical commuter travelling to work three days a week using flexi-season tickets will save £315 a year travelling from Milton Keynes to London, £173 travelling from Woking to London and £57 from Bradford to Leeds.
It comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to unveil her 2025 budget on 26 November, in which she says she will “set out the fair choices to deliver on the country’s priorities to cut NHS waiting lists, cut national debt and cut the cost of living”.
‘”Thats why we’re choosing to freeze rail fares for the first time in 30 years, which will ease the pressure on household finances and make travelling to work, school or to visit friends and family that bit easier.”
The move has been warmly welcomed by rail unions and passenger groups. However, it does not apply to every type of train ticket available, as Yahoo News explains.
What tickets does the rail fare freeze apply to?
The government’s announcement applies only to England and services run by English train operating companies.
The freeze only applies to regulated fares, which are ones that ministers have the power to set guardrails around.
These, according to the government, include season tickets, day singles and returns, off-peak returns between major cities, and some flexible fares around urban centres.
These rail fares account for around half of England’s railway tickets.
Will prices of other tickets be going up?
Unregulated fares will not be impacted directly by the rail fare freeze.
These fares are out of ministers’ control, and “are determined by train operating companies based on commercial strategy”, the government says.
They include advance purchase tickets, first-class fares and certain flexible or “saver” products.
Asked whether the freeze on regulated fares means rail companies will try to make up for the loss of profit by hiking unregulated fares, transport secretary Heidi Alexander offered some reassurance.
“Regulated fares have tended to inform the price of unregulated fares – they track against each other normally,” she told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.
“Over a billion journeys next year will benefit from this freeze,” she said, adding that the policy, which will last until March 2027, will “make a real difference to people”.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said the freeze will ‘make a real difference to people’. (Alamy)
Writing in the Independent, travel journalist Simon Calder said that the announcement is “welcome, but neither essential nor transformational”, and that it “conceals a failure to reform Britain’s outdated, labyrinthine rail fares system”.
“Train tickets are ridiculously complicated and anomalous. One day, a government will be brave enough to overhaul them and lure more people on board. But not this one.
“More radical action is needed. How about a half-price national railcard that anyone can buy? Germany and Switzerland sell them for £200 and £100 respectively.”
How much has the price of train tickets risen since 2010?
The Labour government also used its announcement to attack the Conservative Party over its record on rail fares while in power.
It claimed that rail fares increased by 60% across all tickets under the Conservative governments of 2010 to 2024, with customers facing “relentless” increases year after year.
While rail fares have undoubtedly gone up over the past 15 years, the picture becomes more complicated when accounting for inflation.
Labour has criticised previous Tory governments for allowing rail fares to increase by so much. (Alamy)
Asked about this issue in the Commons in February 2024, during the final months of the Tory government, the then-transport minister, Huw Merriman, said: “Since 2010, regulated fares across Great Britain have decreased by around 7% compared with the retail prices index.”
This means that prices of regulated tickets have gone down in real terms – based on inflation, which soared massively between 2021 and 2023.
Looking at more recent year-on-year changes, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) reports a 5.1 % rise in fares from 2024 to 2025, compared to a 3.2% rise in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) over the same period.
Regulated fares went up slightly less during this period, increasing by 4.5% – slightly under the cap set at 4.6% for England and Wales.
What’s happening with Great British Railways?
The government said the changes are part of its plans to rebuild a publicly owned Great British Railways, a planned state-owned rail company which aims to simplify the railway system.
Passengers will “travel on GBR trains, running on GBR tracks, and working to a GBR timetable – all run by a single body focused on their interests”, the government has said.
“That will mean fewer delays, a better experience, and a timetable that better serves their needs,” it adds, claiming that the system will help reduce “fragmentation” within the country’s rail system.
The Railways Bill, which sets out to “consolidate functions currently spread across at least 17 different industry bodies into GBR”, was introduced to Parliament on 5 November.
Nationalisation is being carried out under a phased approach as the government waits for franchised train operators’ contracts to expire.
The government has said it hopes to bring all franchised passenger services into public ownership by October 2027.
How you can save money on rail fares
Acknowledging the frustration passengers experience when trying to buy the right ticket, the government has also announced an expanded pay as you go system, which will allow tap in and tap out contactless payments, with daily and weekly capping.
In December, another 50 stations will go live with pay as you go, including Stansted and Southend Airports, expanding to more than 90 station across Greater Manchester and the West Midlands over the next few years.
In the meantime, there are some ways you can save money on your rail fares right now, as previously reported by Yahoo News.
Getting a Railcard is one option, with nine varieties available, depending on your situation and needs, which can knock off 1/3 of your train fare. You can find out more about the different types of railcards and buy one online here.
You can also often save money by booking in advance, with National Rail advising that the “earlier you book, the better the chance you have of getting the best price”.
Tickets are usually released 12 weeks in advance, and are still available until the day of travel on many routes – sometimes up to 10 minutes before departure.
Getting a Railcard is one of many ways to save money on train tickets. (Alamy)
If you make the same journey more than once a week, it might be worth investing in a season ticket rather than buying tickets daily.
An annual season ticket offers a full year’s worth of travel for the price of 10 months and 12 days, Network Rail says, while Flexi season tickets can provide savings to part-time commuters.
You can use National Rail’s season ticket calculator here to see which ticket is right for you.
If you’re a small group travelling together, you can also use GroupSave on a variety of Off-Peak tickets across the rail network – saving up to 1/3 on rail fares.
Rover and ranger tickets, offering unlimited travel within a specified area and time period, are another way travellers can save money, along with travelling during off-peak times.
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