The end of first-class carriages? Southeastern becomes latest train operator to scrap premium tickets entirely as DfT orders companies to find savings
- Southeastern has become the latest commuter operator to ditch first-class fares
- This comes as rail chiefs revealed just 28 annual ticket holders paid for premium
- The DfT had ordered companies to cut costs due to low demand post-pandemic
Southeastern has become the latest commuter train operator to scrap first-class carriages as the Department for Transport orders companies to cut costs due to a low demand post-pandemic.
Whitehall officials approved a call to axe first-class tickets and free up seats after rail chiefs revealed only 28 annual season ticket holders paid the premium fare.
The nationalised south-east operator, which runs 1,500 services from Sussex to Kent, is the latest to ditch commuter first-class tickets, following Greater Anglia, West Midlands, East Midlands, and the Stansted Express.
With train travel demand still lower than pre-pandemic levels, the DfT welcomed the move as a spokesman said it would benefit commuters, according to The Telegraph.
Southeastern has become the latest commuter train operator to scrap first-class carriages as the Department for Transport orders companies to cut costs due to low demand post-pandemic
He said commuters often complained of having to stand and look at empty first-class seats from packed standard carriages, adding that Southeastern had taken steps to make commuters’ journey’s more comfortable and reduce over-crowding.
First class tickets have slowly started to disappear from ‘non-intercity’ routes across the country and Whitehall sources said the impact of the latest culling would be closely monitored.
Great Western Railways removed first-class seats from most of its local services in 2016, citing a change in expenses policy due to economic conditions and also converted ‘around half’ of their long-distance first class carriages to provide extra space for its customers.
A spokesman for Northern, the Liverpool to Newcastle operator, confirmed the line no longer had first-class ticket options, despite being intercity.
First-class tickets on commuter routes have almost dropped off altogether, with operators such as Thameslink and Transpennine among the last to offer the premium service.
As train travel demand is still below pre-lockdown levels, the train network continues to drain public money, with £10billion of taxpayer money spent during the pandemic to keep operators afloat and almost £17billion spent on the rail industry in total during that time.
Despite the removal of the first class commuter experience, Government sources said there were no plans to enforce the axing of premium long-distance services.
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