Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take legislative steps to limit the increase in the cost of single journey rail tickets relative to return tickets.

Regulated fares make up around 45 per cent of rail fares and include commuter fares, such as season ticket and shorter-distance peak return, alongside longer-distance off-peak returns to ensure an affordable, walk-up option is available for leisure passengers. Where there are no return fares, the single fare is regulated.

We have been exploring options to improve flexibility for passengers. This has included working with London North Eastern Railway (LNER) to trial switching the regulated fare from the return fare to the single fare. This has reduced the price of many single fares on LNER so that all singles are now priced at around half the cost of the old return fare. The impact of this trial is being evaluated and will be published in due course. We will consider the evaluation carefully before taking further decisions.