Train fares to increase 5.9% from 5th March (England)

Posted 16th Feb 2023

Just a reminder if not already aware, from 5th March 2023 there will be an increase in train fares across rail operators in England, so something to bear in mind if buying rail tickets. The government has capped the increase to 5.9% on rail firms. TFL for example has announced they will increase by an average of 5.9%. Some more info below and also some listed train ticket deals to help save some money.

5.9% cap on rail increases .gov

5.9% average increase TFL - New fares announced

National Rail update on price increases

On 5 March 2023 regulated rail fares will rise on average by 5.9%. Not all fares increase: some fares may go up, many will stay the same and some will reduce in price, in order to meet demand and provide an average.

If looking to save money on train fares here are some deals currently available, thanks to members for the posts

Trains between Bolton and Manchester on Thursdays £1.50 advance single (£3 return) - Northern Rail

ScotRail Club 50 £15 Flat Fare offer s- Anywhere in Scotland, inc. Open Return tickets & £1 per child (Club 50 Members Only)

Northern Rail Unlimited Travel Day Pass for £10 + 3 Tokens from Local Newspaper eg Wigan Post £1.30 x 3 - Total £13.90

34% off Digital Railcards with code e.g. 1 year Railcard £19.80 / 3 year Railcard £46.20 - My Trainpal

Save 50% on Off-Peak tickets for travel on ScotRail services across Scotland with Voucher Code

Selected Seats Reduced (Flexibility Required: Times Allocated To You) eg London Euston - Birmingham New Street £12 - Avanti

£15 off with code - digital weekly season / flexi season (8 days travel) / monthly season tickets - £30 min spend via app

Tesco Clubcard Railcard - 3 x vouchers on railcards - ongoing

2 for 1 days out with train ticket purchase - ongoing

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5.9% cap on rail increases - government info

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247 Comments

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Eggybread
16th Feb
I believe many of the trains are privatised, many owned by other countries - profits are taken and poured back into their own countries infrastructure.

Hard to encourage car owners to use public transport if this is as good as it gets.
Transmat
16th Feb
They are indeed, sold off to other nations so they could have a free reign fleece us. And no one will reverse this traiterous act, not now that our three mainstream parties are practically identical. And they have the nerve to bang on about patriotism.
gledster
16th Feb
Ticket prices going up and yet the rail operating companies are still refusing to give serious pay offers to the rail staff.

The companies are hell bent on reducing the number of staff they employ, even though that will have a knock-on effect on maintenance, customer service and safety and more.

Since the 80s every major industry has been turned into a money funnel to extract the wealth into a limited number of pockets, whilst spending as little as possible on investments and infrastructure.

Utter con all round.
Immoraliste
16th Feb
I think it really depends on whether passenger numbers come back or not.
In the last reporting quarter, passenger numbers were still down 20% on pre-Covid, and revenues were down 30%.
If those passenger numbers are eventually coming back, it's sustainable to keep service and staff numbers the same.
If the drop in passengers is permanent, it's not really sustainable to say you've lost 1/5th of demand for your service but the same cost base as before will be maintained (meaning even bigger taxpayer subsidies).
TeamMCS
16th Feb
I've literally not been on a train this year that hasn't been delayed, on strike or cancelled. They don't deserve a single penny in my opinion. Reminds me of this amusing video:

Thanks OP for the post and all the links
ecuador
16th Feb
They don't even mention Avanti West Coast (owned by Trainitalia) - which has seen a horrible decline of service since they took over from Virgin. But, hey, actual Trainitalia trains in Italy run quite well
Back in early December we had a party in Manchester (not on a strike day) and our people from London set off at 8 in the morning - they were scheduled to arrive after 10 to catch most of the work day for meetings and join the party at 18:00. They arrived at 20:00... Yes, London to Manchester in 12 hours! A funny part is that they split, so some ended up going via Crewe and some via Leeds, but they all arrived at the same time
All this is well known, and yet the government gave them (Avanti) another 6-month extension to their contract with the "promise" to improve services... Really boggles the mind, Virgin was top-rated and from what I see they among the smallest subsidies among all operators. It's like the government is running some sort of weird anti-capitalist ploy - promote the least performing private companies. (edited)
maxfury
16th Feb
What a joke. Transpenine can suck my nuts with the quality of their service.
innocent
16th Feb
Thanks for all the information on the thread especially "Useful Links / related discussions" at the very end.
Chanchi32 Author
16th Feb
no problem, cheers
Jeimu3u
16th Feb
I used the train for the first time in years recently. Newcastle to Leeds, 4 trains (1 connection each way). 1 train was cancelled, and the remaining 3 were delayed by significant periods of time. It would have been cheaper for me to drive, but I wanted the convinience and leisure of sitting on a train so I could prep for my job interview. This turned into the most stressful journey in a long time.

I will never use the trains again. Over priced, unreliable and more stressful than just driving.
Frugalstudent
16th Feb
Nearly missed a flight to see my dying grandmother because of unexpected significant delays, had to get an uber instead. Absolutely awful.
valuehunter2021
16th Feb
yet another reason for the public to avoid trains..
echo06
17th Feb
For those of us who for various reasons can't drive we don't have a choice
jinkssick
16th Feb
I feel for people that have to use the trains in the UK. The whole thing is an utter overpriced disgrace.
pistachio
17th Feb
Not sure what they call it "public transport" ! There is nothing public about it! It is ridiculously expensive that they can sell it as red letter experience day!
Splashmo
16th Feb
I was just thinking the other day that train fares could do with being more expensive.
innocent
16th Feb
You must be a train driver!
roooby
16th Feb
That'll help everyone, well done government.
reubenno
17th Feb
I love how we're constantly told to use public transport, and yet it's more expensive than running a car, even with insane petrol prices.

Trains are a joke in this country. (edited)
rdecoratorUK
17th Feb
its all eco propaganda nothing else like whole climat change lie
johnjrambo
16th Feb
Privatisation at its finest......end of story! (edited)
scoot123
16th Feb
I got trains in Istanbul recently for the first time. Equivalent to 45p each journey, they were frequent and on time, spacious, clean, and clearly showed progress to each station.
By comparison, my last train journey in England was around the same travel time but cost around £25, was delayed, absolutely packed and boiling hot, and there was dog poo all over the floor. Oh and I had to stand up the whole journey.
Not all journeys are like that, obviously, but I fail to see where we're getting any sort of value for money. I drive 99% of the time now.
mrTea67
18th Feb
You always pay more for The experience (edited)
Grazz0r
17th Feb
A price increase for dilapidated and late trains. Meanwhile I go to Belgium where the trains are spotless, new and always on time! And the fares are SO MUCH cheaper! (edited)
Paul_pNd
17th Feb
It really is shocking, isn't it. The only thing more shocking is that people actually defend the government policy on our railway. When we travel abroad, we really see how bad it is here.
echo06
17th Feb
Disgusting for the service we already get.Rip off Britain again
nokiafusion
17th Feb
Do it wages go up 5.9%. I think not.
itchyone
17th Feb
If you strike for long enough yes. Otherwise no.
Dodge62
16th Feb
I only use trains in London and they're all free. Sometimes (not very often) it's great to be an old git.
JesusChristFenton
16th Feb
Already expensive AF, now going up..

Hard to even justify some of the train links. Can fly to Glasgow for cheaper than I can get the train, in 1/5th of the time.
mooo
16th Feb
When I participated in the Great North Run in 2021. It was cheaper to fly to Newcastle! You couldn't make it up!
afroylnt
16th Feb
It should be ava legal requirement for train delays to get automatically refunded but it isn't, it use to be though.
Ghostrecon
17th Feb
Failed state
PizzaTheHutt
18th Feb
Yep and people will vote the same parties who made it that way.
ChildofChaos
16th Feb
I'm glad they are doing this so they can put the funds into improving the service, they have done such a good job the past few years of consistently making the service better, increasing the sizes of trains, making sure they are always on time without delay and just generally being awesome. I've been very happy that i've never been stuck half way across the country several times due to them messing up or arriving home at 2am via taxi instead of 10pm like what could have happened if the service was run badly. Kudos to everyone involved.

Oh wait, whoops, slipped into an alternative universe again... (edited)
johnjrambo
17th Feb
I think you were in the metaverse

People should just accept that trains here in UK are some of the worst in Europe but its ok......we win in having the most expensive......its the same inherent structural incompetence we had back when we tried to make cars......cough.....Leyland (edited)
JustaSingh
16th Feb
Ah well won't matter with 15 minute cities, carbon allowances, cbdcs, Ubi coming too
keyster
17th Feb
Renationalise the Railways.
afroylnt
17th Feb
But when they were the unions took full advantage and were often on strike. So is the solution automate and nationalise?
rdecoratorUK
17th Feb
is there is anything what will decrase in this country?
reubenno
17th Feb
Grammar by the looks of things.
Ashish_Gargqal
16th Feb
Train fare are increasing not the salary
whoknew
17th Feb
Salaries are increasing too but just of those at the very top.
vinster345
17th Feb
Just another reason to make sure you ask for a minimum of 5% when it comes to any job appraisals this year.
sanandreasgangstar
17th Feb
More like min. 10% with other areas of inflation
harryb33
16th Feb
What a great way to incentivise a greener way of travelling!
Misanthropist
16th Feb
Well, that's annoying... they can't keep their services running on time and give us last minute cancellations or delay our trains for near an hour then cancel them... shocking stuff.
GHRocker
16th Feb
Don't think I've had a train not be delayed or cancelled on me in 2022, every time I would be taking it would be to go to the hospital or physio and I have missed sessions due to the trains.

I hated learning to drive, but in the process of re-learning due to how poor our network is in the UK.
fruitflora
16th Feb
Price getting higher but services getting lower and slower. Will we see a return of hitch hiking?
afroylnt
17th Feb
Can it be taxed?
support11
16th Feb
Suckers...
It is a RIP OFF
Take the car to work.
BigDave
16th Feb
Awesome, now the unions can bump their pay demands up another 5.9% (more power to em) (edited)
afroylnt
17th Feb
It's going want to make people wfh even more
Ragedragon84
17th Feb
I wish I could WFH, only reason I use these damn overpriced, unreliable trains is because I have to
richx45
17th Feb
In Germany you can get a MONTH's unlimited rail travel for £40-ish pounds, the rail prices are a joke here, esp with the cost of living, train companies are completely out-of-touch.
Kopite211
18th Feb
It's not that they're out.of touch it's that they're allowed to get away with it
ronniefront
17th Feb
I mean... this isnt really a hot deal is it...
FlexiPack
18th Feb
It's a hot mess though.
junxs
17th Feb
I've recently had to go into London from Birmingham for a business trip.
Firstly the tickets were over £200, (you can fly to anywhere in Europe for cheaper than that price) I paid the extra for flexible tickets so I could change the train if required, but the app kept throwing a technical error every time I tried to change the train. So I had to get up earlier than required to catch the train I had booked.

On the way back, the train I wanted had been cancelled so I had to get the next one which was packed, so I had to stand until some poeople got off at Milton Keynes.

I will never catch a train in the UK again.

I bet a Taxi from my house to outside the office in London would be a similar price.
Jace_Phoenix
18th Feb
Yet people are very quick to support strikes in various sectors, most way above the rate of inflation. This is the direct result.

It's all part of the same economic circle. Train strikes now taking place over pay so this isn't any real surprise.

Wages and minimum pay get increased, and that's just passed on to the paying public.

So the public end up paying more for goods and services. Don't know what people were expecting to happen!
slo_moshun
18th Feb
I booked a train from Cumbria to Newcastle. Takes an hour usually. This one was cancelled and a bus service put in place which went to Edinburgh first!!! 10hrs to travel 62 miles. Told them to shove it. This country is broken beyond repair.
heathergreen1
18th Feb
I've been getting pay rises over the last 5 years between 0 and 1.8% (and that's with glowing yearly assessments). I used to be fairly comfortable, but now it's becoming more of a struggle. The only light at the end of the tunnel was working from home and not having to pay train fares for the last couple of years. I'm really worried that I'll have to get back on the train eventually. I don't know how I'm going to afford the £400 a month it costs, or cope with the service that has very nearly cost me my job on more than one occasion.
redserpent
18th Feb
How can the TSSA & the Elizabeth line staff strike when they haven't even worked for 1 year yet.. not to mention train drivers on the underground when they are on £55k-60k pa ! The job requires minimal training.

Just automate the service already !
barnehurst
18th Feb
They will strike themselves out of jobs eventually. Happened in coal mining sadly (edited)
Cyril_Blake
16th Feb
A good reminder to everyone to use the delay repay services that train companies operate. I use GWR as they email you to let you know when a train was delayed sufficiently enough for you to put a claim in. They are delayed up to 50% of the time in my experience. (edited)
innocent
16th Feb
Delay repay scheme is good but long winded, at least with Southernrailways. Its good to know that GWR actually send you email if your train was delayed. Southern do not do that almost interrogate you about lateness times etc. Only difference is I think graded claims are allowed even for 15 minutes delay.