Losing out on value of rail passes during pandemic
IT'S interesting to read in the rail magazines the understandably negative reactions to the refusal by the Department for Transport to extend the validity of national rail cards in view of cardholders'inability to make use of them during the pandemic.
As a holder of a senior railcard I have much sympathy with these views. However, that irks me less than the stance taken by the Heritage Railway Association (HRA) over volunteer discount cards issued by them, at £35 per year, to active volunteers on UK heritage railways. These cards are valid from March 1 for one year to volunteers, through their railway, and offer discounts to cardholders on heritage railway travel.
As a volunteer heritage railway signalman I have held such cards for a few years, and 2020 was no exception. I paid my £35 and received the card just before the pandemic struck. Under Covid-19 lockdown, all heritage railways closed completely, so the card could not be used.
It is true that, in the easing of lockdown in the summer of 2020, some heritage lines did open with limited services, but most volunteers (including me) are of the age where (pre-vaccination) we were shielding and therefore unable to take advantage of those limited openings.
I have written twice to the HRA suggesting they should extend the validity of 2020 cards into 2021 but they refuse, offering instead a £10 reduction for 2020 cardholders on a 2021 card.
While I would like to see my National Rail Senior Railcard validity extended to take account of lockdowns, it still represents useful savings in travel before Covid and the post-Covid use it will get.
The same cannot be said for the HRA card. That remains completely unused; £35 down the drain which, as a pensioner, I can ill afford.
It seems that while the HRA bemoans the serious threat of declining numbers of volunteers on heritage railways, it is happy to rip them off and alienate them in this manner rather than simply granting an extension of the 2020 card into 2021. If they see that as the price of not losing revenue on the card, well, they have lost mine. And my respect.
Vince Chadwick, Wilmslow, Cheshire
➜ A HRA spokesman replied: “We’re sorry Mr Chadwick hasn’t been able to get more use from his InterRail pass. Not only do the passes offer valuable discounts for heritage rail volunteers (and their partner), they represent an important source of income for the HRA. That income helps to enable us to do all the work we do for heritage railways, while keeping their subscriptions affordable.
“Like every other commercial enterprise, the HRA has taken a financial hit as a consequence of Covid-19 while handling an extraordinary volume of work related to the pandemic and the future of coal, in addition to all its more routine tasks. Most heritage railways were open from or shortly after July 4, 2020, until the beginning of November, and some were open over the Christmas period as well. Many people still found their InterRail passes good value in spite of restrictions.
“We understand that not everyone was able to make as much of their passes as they would like, and we’ve acknowledged that in a renewal discount of £10. At 28.5%, that’s a bigger discount than that offered by the National Trust. We’d love to do more, but we can’t.”