Britain’s incredible shrinking railway, with rapidly rising fares

Simon Calder’s Travel Week [SUBSCRIBE]( [SUBSCRIBE: £1 FOR 3 MONTHS]( March 03, 2023 [View in browser](   [The Independent]( [The Independent]( “Pile it high, sell it cheap”: the business model of Tesco founder Sir John Cohen is used by SNCF (French Railways) for its [no-frills offshoot branded as Ouigo](. Double-deck high-speed trains hurtle around the nation carrying 1,200 passengers a time. We'll always have Disneyland Paris: passengers arriving at the theme-park station after a cut-price journey from the south of France   [Get inspired...]( And breathe...]( Find your inner calm with our pick of the best [meditation and mindfulness retreats]( in the UK [I'm an image]( [Mother's Day stays]( Treat your mum this March with a night at one of these knock-out [spa hotels in Cornwall]( [I'm an image]( //link.e.independent.co.uk/click/30716405.23388/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY28udWsvdHJhdmVsL25vcnRoLWFmcmljYS1taWRkbGUtZWFzdC9lZ3lwdC9odXJnaGFkYS1lZ3lwdC1jaGVhcC13aW50ZXItc3VuLWhvbGlkYXlzLWIyMjc3NTg4Lmh0bWw/583d2887487ccd777a8b7489B0125f33a[All about Adelaide]( Where to stay, eat, drink and shop in [Australia’s cool south-coast city](   Simon’s dispatches To enjoy single-class, zero-catering mass transit, you must jump through a few hoops: book online, check in at least five minutes ahead, pay extra for anything more than standard airline cabin baggage and be flexible about where your journey starts and ends. I boarded at a bleak station above a motorway junction near Marseille airport that was ambitiously named Aix-en-Provence TGV. The threadbare carriage had seen many better days. But having paid just €13 (£11) for almost 500km of travel, I wasn't complaining. In three breathless hours we swished and swerved to an approximation of Paris: the station serving Disneyland Paris, where almost everyone promptly took a 40-minute, €5 suburban train ride into the French capital. If you think Ouigo is taking the Mickey with its choice of destination, regular SNCF high-speed trains run from the south of France to the elegant Gare de Lyon in the capital. Some Ouigo services terminate there as well: you can pay a “proper Paris” supplement of €10 for the privilege of arriving in the actual city of light. Travel thrives on innovation and competition. It may be unfashionable to say so, but parts of the UK rail network are blossoming because of rivalry between operators. The East Coast main line, which connects London King's Cross with Yorkshire, northeast England and Scotland, offers formidable value: the state-run incumbent, LNER, faces “open access” competition from Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo. The wider UK rail story, though, is as gloomy as a no-frills Ouigo station. Yesterday the Office of Rail and Road revealed [a record high number of “on-the-day” train cancellations](, with one in 30 axed completely between October and December last year. Delving deeper into the data, I discovered that 4,000 fewer daily trains ran in Britain compared with pre-pandemic schedules – a drop of one-fifth. Some of those lost departures were caused by the national rail strikes that have disrupted rail travel for months; [the next walk-outs begin on 16 March.]( Other cancellations were down to Covid-related staff shortages. Whatever the causes, the passenger sees longer gaps between trains with a significant risk that their departure may vanish at short notice. From Sunday morning, [rail fares will rise by 5.9 per cent](, imparting fresh momentum to the spiral of decline. In a densely populated nation such as Britain, rail – including no-frills, Ouigo-style trains – should be the natural transport choice. Instead, what we have is an incredible shrinking railway.   From 12 March, our Travel newsletter is expanding to include a second edition focused on the best travel deals and tips, which will be sent every Sunday. If you do not want to receive the Travel newsletter twice weekly, please opt-out by [clicking here](list_name=IND_Travel_Newsletter_CDP) before 10 March. Please note this will unsubscribe you from the main newsletter too.   Enjoying this newsletter? Unlock unlimited, ad-free reading on the website and in The Independent app when you subscribe – plus, benefit from our [welcome offer when you join today](.   Tip of the week: Flight rights for disabled passengers “We want to make sure everyone has fair access to air travel”: so says the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which specifies the treatment disabled travellers are entitled to expect. This week I compiled [a guide to the rights of passengers with physical or hidden disabilities](. The guiding principle: everyone should have access to air travel, and deserves to be treated with care, dignity and respect. However, campaigners say more needs to be done. PICK OF THE WEEK: JET2HOLIDAYS [Jet2holidays offers package holidays to more than 50 sun and city destinations across Europe. Enjoy a seven-night stay at 9 Muses Santorini Resort for £719pp*, and you’ll get return flights, transfers and 22kg baggage included.]( *Based on a seven-night stay for two adults, Bed & Breakfast, return flights from Manchester on 23.05.2023. Price correct on 14.02.23. Deal of the week: Ireland by rail for under £20 a day The Republic of Ireland’s extensive rail network invites visitors to explore the nation with the [Trekker Four Day pass]( priced at €88 (£78). Just buy it at a station ticket office and venture far and wide. The network is centred on Dublin and extends to Sligo and Westport in the northwest; Galway and Limerick in the west; Tralee and Cork in the southwest; and Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow in the south and east. It is especially worthwhile for travellers arriving by ferry from Fishguard in Wales to Rosslare. Judicious use of buses between some stations (eg Waterford and Wexford) makes the most of the deal by avoiding doubling back. [Green light: Our comprehensive guide to holidays in Ireland](   Question of the week: Exploring Northumberland and beyond? Q My partner and I are driving from Buckinghamshire to Otterburn in Northumberland to attend a wedding. We plan to spend a few days touring the area. Where do you recommend? A Otterburn is almost plumb in the middle of Northumberland. Go north initially. The scenic A68 takes you across the Anglo-Scottish border to the River Tweed are the atmospheric remains of Dryburgh Abbey – and, adjacent, a handsome Victorian hotel that shares its name. Take riverside walks from here or make slightly longer excursions to the pretty town of Melrose and to Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. Next, follow the Tweed – pausing at the remarkable 18th-century Floors Castle, the largest inhabited house in Scotland – to its mouth at Berwick. Walk the Elizabethan walls of the border town. The former kingdom of Northumbria has plenty more defences. Choose from a trio of castles: Bamburgh, presiding over a resort voted loveliest in Britain; the haunting ruins of Dunstanburgh, right on the shore; and Alnwick, filming location for Harry Potter and Downton Abbey. Finally pause for a bite to eat in Morpeth, a handsome market town and home of the Morpeth Rant (a folk song, not a consumer complaint) before tackling the A1 south. [Read our guide to the best hotels in Northumberland]( STAT OF THE WEEK 36 Peak number of low-cost transatlantic flights this summer [from Gatwick to the US on the Norwegian start-up airline, Norse Atlantic](. What you might have missed... - Northern Ireland: [What does the Windsor Framework mean for British holidaymakers?]( - Matt back: [Matt Hancock to speak at travel industry conference](//link.e.independent.co.uk/click/30716405.23388/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY28udWsvdHJhdmVsL25ld3MtYW5kLWFkdmljZS9ibHVlLWFpci1yb21hbmlhLWZsaWdodHMtc3VzcGVuZGVkLWIyMTYxNTY1Lmh0bWw/583d2887487ccd777a8b7489B438a50db - Turkish trip: [Is it safe to visit the nation's Mediterranean resorts?]( SIMON'S DIARY Every day from Monday to Friday I tackle a top travel story, or explore a topic in more detail than usual in ‘Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast’ – available free on [Spotify](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Pocket Casts]( or [Acast](. Every day from Monday to Friday I tackle a top travel story, or explore a topic in more detail than usual in ‘Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast’ – available free on [Spotify](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Pocket Casts]( or [Acast](. 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Come and have a look at what I have been up to as I bring you top travel topics and report on the latest changes in a minute or less via [@caldertravel]( Or you can find me on TikTok. Come and have a look at what I have been up to as I bring you top travel topics and report on the latest changes in a minute or less via [@caldertravel]( [INDYBEST]( / [TRAVEL BEST BUY]( [14 best cabin bags for great escapes]( Holiday or weekend away on the cards? 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