UK to stick with Interrail following public outcry at news it was leaving
Britain’s train operators have ditched plans to pull out of the Interrail scheme following a strong public reaction to its decision.
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents UK train companies, announced yesterday that it was leaving Interrail, a scheme that allows EU citizens to travel across 31 countries on a single ticket.
It said Eurail, which runs Interrail, had forced it to leave because RDG no longer wanted to participate in a separate pass that offered unlimited travel to citizens from outside the EU.
However, this afternoon RDG director of nations and regions Robert Nisbet said: "Following the strong reaction to news of our departure, we and Eurail, the company which runs Interrail, renewed talks.
"We are pleased to be able to tell passengers that we have reached agreement and will be remaining part of both the Interrail and Eurail passes."
Rail blogger Mark Smith, who runs the popular website Seat61, described this as ‘fabulous news’.
Posting on Twitter, he wrote: "Hats off to RDG & National Rail operators for listening – many, many people young and old will appreciate this for years to come."
There had been concerns that if the UK pulled out of Interrail it would deter foreign visitors to the UK from travelling beyond London if they had to buy a separate rail pass for the rest of England, Scotland and Wales.
Also, UK travellers buying an Interrail pass would have had to buy a separate ticket to travel to London by rail to pick up the Eurostar service, which would still have been included in the pan-European pass.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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