UK: Announcing this year’s rail fare increase for Wales, the Welsh government’s Cabinet Secretary for Transport & North Wales Ken Skates said he hoped rail reform would end the need for regulated fares.
On February 6 Skates announced an overall increase in regulated rail fares of 4·6% from March 2 2025. Anytime Day Single fares will increase by 3%, seven-day season ticket fares will increase by 3·5% and Anytime Day Return fares and Off Peak Return fares will both increase by 6%.
Skates said it is ’important to recognise that the increasing majority of passengers no longer use these regulated products. They are a vestige of the privatised railway, established to ensure that private operators could not drive huge increases in fares to maximise their profits at the expense of passengers outside the control of governments.
‘It is my hope that with the progress of rail reform, the return of railway services into the public sector will see the end of the need for regulated rail fares with public sector operators prioritising value for money for passengers.’
