GTR freezes thousands of fares and caps season tickets to rate of inflation

GTR freezes thousands of fares and caps season tickets to rate of inflation

Govia Thameslink Railway’s fares will rise on average by just 0.8% on 2 January – and many tickets will be frozen completely.

Singles and returns from London to Gatwick with Gatwick Express, and Luton Airport with Thameslink, will stay the same as will all fares under £10 on Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink that start or end outside the London Travelcard zone. Season tickets will rise by 1% - the rate of inflation in July, which is used by the Government as the industry benchmark for fare changes.

Govia Thameslink Railway’s Commercial Director David Innis said: “We are determined to give our passengers better value for money and by freezing thousands of fares and introducing a minimum rate of inflation rise on season tickets, we are doing just that.”

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Editor’s notes

For more information email press.office@gtrailway.com or call

• Southern and Gatwick Express press office: 0203 750 2030
• Thameslink and Great Northern press office: 0345 470 0789

Govia Thameslink Railway

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) runs began running Thameslink (Bedford to Brighton, Sutton and Wimbledon) and Great Northern (London to Peterborough, Cambridge and King’s Lynn) rail services in September 2014. A small number of services and stations previously operated by Southeastern transferred to GTR in December 2014 and in July 2015 the Southern and Gatwick Express routes were incorporated into the franchise.

GTR is now the largest rail franchise in the UK in terms of passenger numbers, trains, revenue and staff: GTR carries about 273 million passenger journeys per year, employs around 6,500 people and generates annual passenger revenues of approximately £1.3bn.

Details of the franchise are below:

• 22% of all UK passengers
• 6,500 employees
• £1.3bn annual revenue
• £237m passenger journeys
• £50m investment to enhance all 239 stations
• 50% increase in capacity
• 1,398 new train carriages
• 10,000 additional morning peak seats into London
• Free Wi-Fi at 104 stations
• 20,000 days of customer service training for frontline employees
• £1m per year for local communities to spend on improvements at stations

The GTR investment programme for stations includes funding for more CCTV, toilet refurbishments, new retail facilities, help points and car park improvements – as well as plans for increased motorcycle storage and improved transport integration.

southernrailway.com, gatwickexpress.com, thameslinkrailway.com greatnorthernrail.com