Labour urged to do more to bring down ‘incomprehensible’ rail ticket prices after announcing fare freeze for England
The Government has been urged to do more to bring down Britain’s “ridiculous” rail ticket prices after announcing that fares will be frozen next year.
Rail fares are to be frozen in England for the first time in 30 years from March 2026 and will last until March 2027 – with commuters on some of the more expensive routes expected to save over £300 a year.
Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander declared: “If you see at what has happened to rail fares over the last decade and a half, they have increased by 60 per cent between 2010 and 2024, under the Conservatives, we don’t believe that is right.
“We consider it’s right to create life a little bit clearer for people that are still dealing with cost of living pressures.”
However, transport campaigners have urged to Labour to go further and scrap costly peak fares – calling the premium prices an “unfair tax” on commuters.
The i Paper took at a closer see at how UK rail ticket prices compare to some of our closest neighbours in the European Union (EU).
Comparing equivalent train journeys of just under 200 miles in Germany, Italy and Spain, analysis displays the UK has by far the highest peak fares.
UK train journey more than twice the cost of EU equivalents
A peak-time single journey, booked one day in advance, from London to Liverpool costs £128, analysis of prices from Trainline displays. It is more than twice the cost of the equivalent journey in Germany, Frankfort to Munich, which only costs £51.
The equivalent journey in Italy, Turin to Bologna, costs only £38 for a peak single, booked one day in advance. In Spain, the same kind of ticket from Madrid to Cordoba costs only £34.
The UK’s advance prices are much closer to EU. Booking the London to Liverpool train one month in advance displayed tickets available at £50. Advance train tickets for the equivalent European journeys cost slightly less, between £45 and £49.
Peak-time single ticket, booked one day in advance
London to Liverpool (178 miles) – £128
Frankfort to Munich (189 miles) – £51
Turin to Bologna (184 miles) – £38
Madrid to Cordoba (184 miles) – £34
Off-peak single, one day in advance
London to Liverpool – £76
Frankfort to Munich – £72
Turin to Bologna – £38
Madrid to Cordoba – £20
Advance single – booked one month in advance
London to Liverpool – £50
Frankfort to Munich – £49
Turin to Bologna – £46
Madrid to Cordoba – £45
Sources: Trainline (UK), Intercity Express (Germany), Italo, Frecciarossa (Italy), Renfe (Spain)
A 2024 study of 27 operators across Europe by campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) found that “travelling by rail in the UK is particularly costly”.
Rail fares across Great Britain increased by 5.1 per cent in 2025 between March 2024 and March 2025.
Regulated rail fares increased by 4.5 per cent, slightly under the cap set for England and Wales of 4.6 per cent. Fares in Scotland increased by 3.8 per cent in April 2025.
A Campaign for Better Transport report from earlier this year found that UK rail fares are “disproportionately expensive compared to similar European nations with similar economies”.
Christian Wolmar, host of the Calling All Stations podcast, declared rail fares in the UK were “ridiculous” and “incomprehensible”.
The rail expert informed The i Paper: “We’re much higher than Europe and it’s a huge deterrent for people to commute by train.”
Scrapping peak fares would support lower prices
Wolmar believes it would be a good shift to scrap peak fares entirely, being the most expensive deterrent to ditch cars.
He declared the argument in favour of peak tickets to support smooth out the flow of passengers during the day was now an “old-fashioned” idea becaapply of “more flexible working”.
The Scottish Government has already ditched peak fares, announcing the shift earlier this year in a bid to encourage people to switch from their cars onto trains.
The Campaign for Better Transport backed the shift in Scotland. Travelling during peak times can cost 132 per cent more than off-peak on some routes, according to the campaign group.
It has called for a trial project in other parts of the UK to scrap peak rail fares on Mondays and Fridays. And peak prices throughout the week should be capped at no more than 20 per cent above off-peak ones, declared the Campaign for Better Transport.
Rail union TSSA has also called for peak fares to be scrapped in the rest of the UK after the shift in Scotland. General secretary Maryam Eslamdoust declared it would “encourage more people out of cars”, supporting the Government achieve its net zero climate tarreceives.
Will public ownership lead to lower rail fares?
Rail unions have argued that Labour’s shift to bring railways back into public ownership under Great British Railways (GBR) can support lower ticket prices.
However, Alexander outlined the cost of delivering the rail fare freeze for England on Sunday despite stateing the measure will “create a real difference to people”.
The cabinet minister informed Times Radio on Sunday it would cost taxpayers in the “low hundreds of millions” in Rachel Reeves’ upcoming Budreceive.
Wolmar declared the freezing of rail fares was still a “smart shift, politically” as a way of displaying that public ownership can create a difference to people’s pockets.
On the long-term costs of keeping tickets affordable, he added: “You receive more revenue if you attract more applyrs to apply trains.”
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Silviya Barrett, director of policy at the Campaign for Better Transport, agrees. “More affordable fares should increase the number of passengers, drive up fare revenues and reduce the required for Government investment in future,” she declared.
“We see the frozen rail fares as a welcome first step to broader reform of fares and ticketing. We want to see more constituency between operators, a cap on the highest fares and a simple fare structure.”
The Government was approached for comment.
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