Rail passengers get automatic right to switch operators for free when trains are cancelled

Rail passengers whose trains are cancelled will have the immediate right to travel on other operators’ services to finish their journey without further charge, ministers have announced.

The “commonsense change” will take effect from Sunday 20 September, ending the confusion in Britain where many pre-booked tickets are not valid on other firms’ trains.

While passengers are frequently allowed to travel with different operators in times of severe disruption, travellers can be left to wait for a formal agreement that another firm’s tickets can be accepted, or sometimes buy an expensive new ticket and apply for a refund for the first.

The Department for Transport said passengers had until now been “paying the price for a system which prioritises shareholders when trains are cancelled”.

From 20 September, customers holding a valid ticket will be able to travel on another operator’s train two hours before or after the original cancelled service, on a reasonable alternative route.

The rail minister, Lord Hendy, said: “This is a simple, commonsense change that puts passengers first. No one should be left stranded because of a fragmented railway when their journey is disrupted. From this weekend, if your train is cancelled, you can get on another operator’s service and carry on your journey without paying again.”

He said the government was making the railway “simpler, fairer and easier to use, as we move towards Great British Railways and put public service back at the heart of our railways”.

Automatic cross-operator ticket acceptance has been brought in already across firms returned to public ownership, but now CrossCountry, GWR, Avanti West Coast and Chiltern Railways, running important intercity routes, will be included.

The remaining passenger train operations are scheduled to come into public ownership next year under a Great British Railways banner, bar a handful of open-access services, which will remain separate.

East Midlands Railway, which has been beset with problems while introducing malfunctioning Hitachi bi-mode trains, will also not be immediately included due to its ongoing mass cancellations and shortages of seats.

Alex Robertson, the chief executive of the independent watchdog Transport Focus said it was “a welcome change that we have long called for”, adding: “The key now is making sure passengers get clear information about their options whenever disruption occurs.”