The government is boasting that it is expanding the availability of advance tickets across publicly-owned train operators in the North of England.
Publicly-owned operators LNER, TransPennine Express and Northern have worked with Network Rail to launch an initiative that gives more options to people travelling across the North. The initiative makes fares cheaper on routes that involve interchanging between the operators.
A pilot launched on 24 June 2025 ran the system between Leeds and Manchester, and the operators believe that it has:
- saved passengers’ money by making advance fares available across the whole route at the same time
- brought in £200,000 in additional revenue for the railway
- encouraged people to choose public transport.
The government sees this as building on its plan to overhaul the railways to make them simpler, more flexible and more focused on passengers’ needs.
Analysis of mobile network data during the pilot showed that rail’s modal share was low despite journey times that compete with those taken by car. When the operators investigated further, they concluded that this was due to a lack of clear, consistent ticket options for train journeys that involve more than one operator.
Cheaper advance fares were often available on only one leg of a cross-operator journey, with passengers having to pay a walk-up fare for the other leg/s.
The approach of using mobile data to track travel patterns and identify customer flows has enabled publicly-owned train operators to create improve ticketing options.
The government believes that this “shows how public ownership can deliver real benefits for passengers”. Train operators are being brought into public ownership as their current franchises expire.
The three operators announced earlier this month that they are also working together on maintenance.
“This is exactly the type of collaborative work public ownership enables, allowing us to put passengers first by making train travel simpler and more affordable.
“Through these cheaper fares we’re opening up more options to people travelling across the North, putting more money in working people’s pockets and boosting connectivity and growth as part of our Plan for Change.”
Rail Minister, Lord Peter Hendy
Responses
It’s sketchy to talk about expanding advance purchase fares as “simplifying” the system, when what most passengers want is affordable, flexible fares that don’t need to be booked in advance – especially for local journeys and those without seat reservations. Ticket availability and acceptance across LNER, TPE and Northern is still a chaotic and confusing mess, making it difficult for passengers to ensure they are getting the best price for the journey they want. I hope that DFTO doesn’t think that their work is done!