GBR International Rail Strategy - what do you think/want?

[signed]

The visa waiver/ETA is purely for money, it makes no sense for any country, nevermind the UK. It has shown dearely with the 50NZ$ asked by the New Zealand Government.

That may help with terminal congestion as well as it would put out some people from travelling

 

[ShadowKnight]

I think a thing GBR could improve with international connections is a greater fare integration and expansion of the sailrail services to the broader fare system.
And to all rail connected passenger ferries (Ireland, isle of man, Holland, france, Scotland, isle of wight, etc.)

It's a bit disjointed and more like they don't really want you to use sailrail

 

[vuzzeho]

I think a thing GBR could improve with international connections is a greater fare integration and expansion of the sailrail services to the broader fare system.
And to all rail connected passenger ferries (Ireland, isle of man, Holland, france, Scotland, isle of wight, etc.)

It's a bit disjointed and more like they don't really want you to use sailrail

Would GBR even care about that? Surely they'd try to get people onto rail, not ferries.

 

[WAB]

My bet is one person in an office looking after a website detailing through ticketing options and ensuring that the existing SailRail products continue to work. Nice work for an MS1 if you can get it. Anything else would cost proper money.

 

[ShadowKnight]

Would GBR even care about that? Surely they'd try to get people onto rail, not ferries.

I'd say as part of a broader national effort of increasing public transport and more environmentally friendly methods of travel (reducing car usage) they might.

Also if there is a better integrated rail/ferry ticketing more people would use the train to connect with a ferry.
Even today it's not widely known

 

[JonathanH]

Also if there is a better integrated rail/ferry ticketing more people would use the train to connect with a ferry.
Even today it's not widely known

The reality of through fares is that they suit neither provider.

The ferry company will concentrate on its own booking interface because that is where it is going to attract the most custom, and trying to integrate with rail booking engines isn't really worth it.

Passengers will generally only make a through booking if the fare is cheaper. Is the ferry company, or the railway, meant to reduce its revenue as a result?

 

[Bletchleyite]

There's two more TOCs scheduled between now and mid/late 2025. One wholly intercity in nature and one a mixed bag not serving London. Some differences to the LNER trial, to test out different demographics and markets.

Good lord, lots of different trials like that is going to be a right mess. Can't we just stick with doing it all on LNER?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Aug 2024 ==

XC is being left alone, for good reason too.

The non-London one sounds more like TPE.

If Avanti are getting involved in this nonsense (and they're the only other solely IC TOC bar LNER) perhaps the new EV purchase should be brought forward. I wonder if this is part of the motivation for wanting to get them in house?

New thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/more-fare-increase-trials-on-the-cards.273073/