One million half price rail tickets announced to help with cost of living crisis
The discounted tickets are available to book now on journeys from April 25 to May 27
Last updated 29th May 2022
The cost of one million train tickets are being reduced today as part of a Government initiative to ease the pressures of the cost of living crisis.
This nationwide rail discount, dubbed the 'Great British Rail Sale', is set to run for the next month until May 27.
The Department for Transport are hoping that this will help hard-pressed households facing rising bills and soaring inflation as well as boost domestic tourism across the UK.
Some of the journeys covered in the sale include trips from Manchester to Newcastle for £10 and London to Edinburgh services from £22- down from £44.
Other journey savings include a single from York to Leeds being reduced to £2.80 from £5.60, London to Cardiff being cut from £47 to £25 and Portsmouth Harbour to Penzance going down to £22 from £45.70.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, announced the initiative on social media, in the form of a promotional video Twitter users are calling 'bizarre'.
Tickets have been made available from 10am today, with passengers able to purchase them from the National Rail website.
Jacqueline Starr, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, said: "We want everyone to be able to benefit from travelling by train because it's more than just a journey, it's a way to connect everyone to the people, places and things they love.
"As part of the Great British Rail Sale customers will enjoy over one million discounted tickets, so they can explore some of the fantastic locations that are accessible by rail."
"This temporary respite will be small comfort to passengers who had thousands taken out of their pockets from soaring fares since 2010.
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Labour's shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said the discounts this spring will be "small comfort to passengers" after years of "soaring fares".
"A decade of brutal Tory fare hikes have priced people off our railways," she said.
"And the decision to end the sale just before half-term will mean many families face the same punishing costs over the holidays.
"Working people are facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, and the Conservatives have chosen to hike up taxes and reject a windfall tax on the soaring profits of oil and gas giants.
"Labour would help working people - with a fully-funded plan to cut up to £600 off of household bills."
The initiative has also been welcomed by the organisation Campaign for Better Transport as 'a good first step', but they say more needs to be done in the long-term to improve the UK transport system.
The group say that the Government needs to now 'end huge annual fare rises', and 'get better timetables to eliminate padding and poor connections'.