Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that rail fares are affordable.

Scottish fares are a matter for the Scottish Government. However, in both administrations Scotland and England, some fares are regulated to protect passengers by setting the maximum amount that regulated fares can increase year-on-year.

London North Eastern Railway's (LNER’s) "Simpler Fares" trial is running on the East Coast Mainline, including between London and areas around Edinburgh, to explore alternative fare structures on long-distance routes.

With LNER’s Simpler Fares initiative, the number of tickets has been reduced to just three per class - fixed, semi-flexible, and fully flexible.

The off-peak and super-off-peak tickets with complex validities have been replaced by a new semi flexible ticket - “70-Flex” which allows passengers to adjust their booking in order to travel on an earlier or later LNER service, scheduled to depart within 70 minutes of their booked departure time, which is much clearer and more descriptive.

Finally, everything is priced on a single leg basis where a single costs no more than half of the equivalent return, enabling passengers to easily mix and match tickets for each leg of their journey without penalty according to their needs e.g. Fixed out and Flexible back or First Class with Standard.