Millennial railcard goes on sale on Tuesday

Exclusive: 26-30 Railcard goes on sale on Tuesday; journalist from The Independent who turns 31 on Wednesday hopes to grab one

A “millennial” railcard is going on sale nationwide, entitling travellers aged between 26 and 30 to one-third off train tickets — but only if they are among the first 10,000 to apply.

The Independent estimates five million British people are eligible for the 26-30 Railcard, which means there is only one for every 500 people in the 26-30 cohort.

Plans for a 26-30 Railcard were revealed by The Independent last October. The new discount scheme broadly extends the existing 16-25 Railcard privileges. All Advance tickets and most “walk-up” fares are cut by 34 per cent, though Anytime and Off Peak tickets have a minimum fare of £12 between 4.30am and 10am.

The railcard costs £30 for a year. It is available only digitally, and is intended to be carried on smartphones.

A pilot programme has been running in the Greater Anglia area since December 2017, also involving 10,000 railcards. All had been sold by February.

In the Budget in November 2017, the Chancellor said: “I can announce a new railcard for those aged 26 to 30, giving 4.5 million more young people a third off their rail fares.”

But the rail industry wants to evaluate the test run before committing to a full roll out of the new railcard.

A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the rail industry, said: “The trial of the 26-30 Railcard is part of the rail industry’s long-term plan to change, improve and boost communities by enabling more people to travel by train.

“Research being gathered as part of the 26-30 Railcard trial expansion is being used to inform discussions with the government about a national roll out.”

The chief executive of the watchdog Transport Focus, Anthony Smith, said: “The nationwide trial of the 26-30 Railcard is welcome news for hard-pressed passengers and will help take some of the sting out of rising rail fares.

“With less than half of passengers satisfied with the value for money of their journey and even fewer young people satisfied this will help make travelling by rail that little bit more affordable for young people.”

The way that the rules work, someone who turns 31 on Wednesday will be allowed to apply on Tuesday — and get a railcard that is valid until the day before their 32nd birthday.

One of the very few people in this category is Helen Coffey, deputy head of travel at The Independent. She said: “I feel exceptionally lucky that I’m able to buy the new rail card – if I was born one day earlier I’d be too old!

“It’s a great idea to create a rail card for this demographic; I often find UK rail travel hugely expensive unless I know where I’ll be going months in advance. I’m excited to start saving, even if I’ll only be eligible for the next year.”

Ms Coffey will then need to wait for almost three decades until she is 60 and qualifies for a Senior Railcard, unless the Government agrees to calls for a National Railcard open to all.

In Switzerland, where almost every rail passenger has a Halb-tax railcard, giving a 50 per cent discount, there are demands for the scheme to be scrapped and fares nationwide to be halved.

Click here for Railcard discount codes