Overview
- From Sunday 20 September, passengers with a valid ticket can board participating rival operators’ services within two hours before or after a cancelled train using a direct or reasonable alternative route.
- Travellers must show their original ticket to station or on-board staff as proof and do not need to download a new ticket to travel on the replacement service.
- The expansion adds major intercity firms — CrossCountry, Great Western Railway, Avanti West Coast and Chiltern Railways — to existing publicly owned operators, while East Midlands Railway will join later.
- Reports link East Midlands Railway’s delayed inclusion to widespread cancellations and seat shortages tied to problems introducing new Hitachi bi-mode trains, a constraint the DfT says must be resolved first.
- The change sits alongside a £156m programme to roll out pay-as-you-go ticketing and a GBR website/app, and passenger watchdog Transport Focus welcomed the reform while urging clearer, timely information during disruption.