Railfuture's campaign for a national railcard has won support from Labour MP Mark Lazarowicz.

Mr Lazarowicz has tabled an early day motion backing the idea, saying that the railcard for use across the whole GB rail network would boost off-peak passenger numbers.

The motion put forward by the MP for Edinburgh North & Leith calls for the introduction of a railcard to cover the whole of Great Britain which would offer major discounts to passengers travelling on off-peak train services.

It would be particularly aimed at attracting more leisure
passengers on to rail, encouraging them to switch from road to rail for their long-distance journeys.

The card would benefit Scots travelling between Scotland and England and on longer rail routes inside Scotland.

Evidence from other European countries which already have a national railcard shows just how popular they can be.

There has been a good uptake of the cards in these countries (3 million sales is the estimate for Britain) and they also give the rail industry an important additional source of revenue.

Because the card would offer discounts for travel only during off-peak periods, the focus would be on using more of the existing capacity on these services, rather than over-burdening already crowded commuter services.

Mark Lazarowicz said: I feel strongly that a British Railcard aimed at leisure passengers would be one answer to the enormous problem of congestion on our roads. People need incentives to switch from road to rail, and the cut-price deals which such a card would offer could help make the railways that bit more attractive.

Britain already has experience of the benefits of railcard schemes in the form of the Senior Railcard and the Young Persons Railcard. I believe these benefits should be made available to adult population as a whole.

I will be pressing as many MPs as possible to sign the Motion and I hope that the rail industry pays attention now to the demands which are being expressed on this issue.

The full motion on the Great Britain Railcard says:

This motion supports the calls for the introduction of a British Railcard covering the whole of the British rail network and offering rail passengers off-peak discount travel; congratulates Railfuture and The Railway Consultancy for their forward-thinking work on this issue; notes the potential benefits of
such a scheme, including a significant increase in rail use by leisure travellers, thereby helping to encourage a switch from road to rail, increased revenues for the rail industry, greater use of existing capacity on off-peak services, and higher levels of social inclusion; furthermore, points to the high uptake of similar schemes on the Continent and the success in the UK of the Network South East Card, Senior Card and Young Persons Railcard in stimulating demand for rail travel; and calls on the
SRA and the Association of Train Operating Companies to fully endorse the proposals for such a card and to examine ways of introducing it across the network as soon as possible.


Information from Mark Lazarowicz


Website: www.marklazarowitcz