Ministers oppose plan for national railcard

A plan for a national railcard offering a reduction of a third on off-peak train fares is expected to be rejected by the Government.

Ministers and officials at the Strategic Rail Authority(SRA) will today give the scheme a cautious welcome in public but senior Whitehall sources said privately that the chances of the card being introduced were nil.

Backers of the initiative, which include the state-funded Rail Passengers Council (RPC), say an annual £20 card would be bought by three million people, yield £60m in revenue for the network. It would also help to fill relatively empty off-peak trains and cut road journeys, they believe.

A reportcommissioned by the RPC and Railfuture, an organisation that campaigns for better services, points out that someone travelling from London to Aberdeen would normally pay £96 for a "Saver" return ticket, but would pay £67.20 under the scheme.

The report, by The Railway Consultancy, said the card would help to reduce public subsidy to the railways from 7.3p to 6.7p a passenger mile.

But Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport, is reluctant to seek Treasury approval for the plan because of scepticism on its benefits to the Exchequer. Despite its avowed support for public transport, the Government has cut spending on the SRA by £396m over the next three years.

The Association of Train Operating Companies(Atoc) will also today make diplomatic noises about the idea, but most train operators are against it – largely because of its potential impact on profits but also because they say it would complicate an already Byzantine fares structure.

An Atoc spokesman said: "We already have special rates for the unemployed, for families and for senior citizens for instance. We also have discount fares bookable in advance on the internet and promotional discounts. Countries which have national railcards don't have our cheap fares system, so we don't see the need for it."

Anthony Smith, director of the RPC, said the card would help the Government meet its targets for encouraging people to abandon cars in favour of trains. "If the fragmented industry can't deliver this scheme, there is something very wrong with the industry, not the idea."

Transport 2000, which has campaigned for a national railcard, said the "noises" coming from Whitehall were "disappointing and short-sighted".