Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help rail companies ensure that passengers are not subject to unfair (a) costs and (b) overcrowded services.

The Government is taking decisive action to reduce the impact inflation will have on rail fares during the cost of living crisis and, in august, we guaranteed we will not be increasing fares by as much as the July RPI figure. We are also again delaying any change to March 2023, temporarily freezing fares for passengers to travel at a lower price for the entirety of January and February.

Earlier this year we launched the Great British Rail Sale, the first ever nationwide rail sale. Over 1.3 million tickets were sold, offering around £7million worth of savings for passengers.

There are also several railcards available to passengers which offer discounts against most rail fares.

As the pandemic has changed travel habits, train operators are using this opportunity to reassess their services to ensure they provide rail timetables that meet new passenger travel patterns, are fit for the future, and carefully balance cost, capacity and performance.

The new timetables are demand-led and built with flexibility in mind, so if passenger numbers increase as we continue to recover from the pandemic, we can look to accommodate additional services. Where operators have modified their timetables, the changes will be kept under review and, where appropriate, adjusted to reflect fluctuations in demand.