The UK's Rail Delivery Group (RDG) has decided to withdraw from the European travel card systems InterRail and Eurail. This will make travel around the UK significantly more expensive for tourists using these passes, especially for young people. Most pass holders will probably simply exclude the UK from their trips, says Travel.ru's own correspondent.
This strange decision will not come into effect immediately. Passengers with InterRail and Eurail passes purchased before December 31, 2019, will be able to travel with them in the UK until the end of their validity. InterRail (this pass is also available to Russian tourists) can be used for 11 months from the date of purchase. Thus, those who wish to do so have a chance to travel with it around the British Isles even in the autumn of 2020 - provided that it was purchased in 2019. Passes purchased in 2020 will only be valid in continental Europe.
Let us remind you that InterRail is a pan-European travel card, allowing its holder unlimited travel on trains in most European countries for a reasonable price. Young people under 28 can travel around the continent for prices ranging from 168 euros (for 3 days) to 694 euros (for 3 months), adult travel cards cost from 218 to 812 euros, and there are discounts for pensioners and families. Additional bonuses appear periodically - for example, in the coming week, autumn travel cards can be bought for 10% cheaper. InterRail is a very popular ticket, especially among young Europeans, allowing them to see many countries inexpensively - for example, during the summer holidays.
RDG stated that the reason for leaving the InterRail and Eurail systems was the desire to promote its own BritRail pass. It is valid either for the whole of Great Britain (and, if desired, for the whole of Ireland), or only for certain parts of it – for example, only for Scotland, or only for the south-east of England, and so on. At the same time, there have been no points of sale for it in Great Britain for several years now – the pass has to be bought at agencies before arriving in the country. However, some passes can now be bought as mobile tickets, which eliminates the problem of finding an agency abroad.
The main problem with BritRail, however, is its high cost. It is essentially the same price as InterRail, but the latter allows you to travel around the whole of Europe if you wish, while BritRail allows you to travel only one country for the same price. Obviously, the vast majority of tourists touring Europe will not buy both tickets - most likely, they will simply cross the UK off their list of destinations on their trip, or limit themselves to London. InterRail or Eurail will still allow you to travel to the British capital for an additional 30 euros each way on Eurostar trains running through the Channel Tunnel.
Many opposition British politicians have already called the RDG's decision short-sighted and reckless. They said that the country would lose many tourists and miss the chance to present itself in a favorable light to young people in other European countries. Representatives of a number of British regions, unhappy with the likely decline in tourist flow to their cities, have joined the criticism.
Source: travel.ru
