Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the most recent rise in rail fares affected profits from ticket sales; and what assessment, if any, they have made of recent changes in demand for rail travel.

No assessment has been made of the proportion of industry revenues which can be attributable to the March 2021 fares changes. While fares changes impact total industry revenue there are also a number of other elements that impact it, including most notably at the moment the pandemic’s impact on passenger travel.

Passenger demand fell during the pandemic and is slowly recovering. We are working with the rail industry to develop a number of recovery initiatives, for example we have introduced new flexible season tickets across England this year to help encourage passengers to return to the railway.