Great British Rail Sale: Mayor makes renationalisation call over fares

Mr Burnham said it was cheaper to book a return flight from Manchester to India than a rail trip to London

A mayor has called for Britain's railways to be renationalised as a return ticket from Manchester to London can now cost more than a round trip to Brazil or India.

Andy Burnham said a new scheme offering lower fares was a government admission that prices were "way too high".

The Greater Manchester mayor added that the Great British Rail Sale showed it was time to "retake control".

The Department for Transport (DfT) said the fare comparison was "disingenuous".

On Tuesday, the government announced the scheme would see some off-peak prices slashed by as much as half between 25 April and 27 May.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said more than one million train tickets would be reduced to encourage people to stop "living life virtually" and "get real and visit our beautiful country".

'Retake control'

Writing in the Evening Standard, Mr Burnham said the scheme would give passengers "a glimpse of what it's like to travel on the railways at prices permanently available to people in pretty much every other country in the world".

He pointed out how an anytime day return between London and Manchester would currently "set you back £369.40", making it "cheaper to book a return flight from Manchester to India, Jamaica, Brazil or the Ivory Coast".

The mayor's subsequent tweet about the cost of a return fare has received thousands of reactions, with some saying prices had become "insane" and "horrendous", while others claimed Mr Burnham had made an unfair comparison as there were "much cheaper fares available most of the time".

In a statement, Mr Burnham said putting on "a 32-day sale only a month after they introduced the biggest hike in rail fares for nine years is the definition of giving a little with one hand whilst taking away much more with the other".

"The fact that it offers no benefit to daily commuters - the railway's most loyal and long-suffering customers - adds insult to injury," he added.

"For as long as train tickets cost more than plane tickets, we will be heading in the wrong direction as a country.

"The only way we will face up to the simultaneous cost-of-living and climate crisis is with a massive reduction in rail fares and that can only be achieved through full renationalisation."

A DfT spokeswoman said it was "completely disingenuous to cherry pick the cheapest available advance air tickets and compare them with the most expensive, last minute rail fares".

"Depending on when passengers book, Great Britain has some of the cheapest tickets on offer in Europe," she added.

The DfT previously said cutting the cost of rail travel would "help ease some of the pressure on family finances at a time when inflation is rising around the world" and "also encourage people to visit different places, connect with friends and loved ones, and get out and about".