Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of people affected by the decision by Virgin Trains to end the easement whereby railcard holders can purchase discounted off-peak tickets for travel on peak time trains.

The decision to withdraw the application of the railcard discount was a commercial matter for Virgin Trains. Therefore no estimate has been made of passenger numbers affected by the Department.

The Request for Proposal in relation to the recent Direct Award with West Coast Trains Limited (trading as Virgin Trains) did not include a requirement to continue to provide the Railcard easement and it is not a requirement of the Franchise Agreement that is in place for this easement to continue to be provided for the franchise term. This is a commercial matter for Virgin Trains.

There have been no discussions between the Secretary of State for Transport, or his Ministers and officials, and Virgin Trains during or after the West Coast Main Line Direct Award negotiations about the Railcard easement.

The only correspondence received by the Department was a copy of the email Virgin Trains sent out on 18 August to Members of the House of Commons whose constituents were likely to be affected by this decision. This email has been placed in the House library.　 In addition, officials received three emails from the Head of Public Affairs, Virgin Trains with information updates on the easement announcement.