Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the establishment of Great British Railways on the cost of rail services for passengers.

The Secretary of State will set the overall parameters for fares, reflecting their role in balancing affordability and taxpayer contributions to the railway, while Great British Railways (GBR) will set and manage individual fares for its services, creating a simpler, more consistent fares structure that passengers can trust. These decisions will be made in future once GBR is established.

The new framework will also continue to safeguard existing statutory discount schemes, including those for disabled, senior, and younger passengers, currently delivered as railcards. There are no plans to withdraw other railcard schemes (e.g. Veterans or 26–30 railcards). GBR will have the flexibility to evolve these offers over time in line with passenger needs.