New analysis from Newcastle Labour reveals local rail users are set for a huge cost of living boost thanks to the first freeze on rail fares in 30 years.
There are 10,548,216 journeys that either start or end at Newcastle Central Station each year – an estimated 45% are regulated and therefore subject to Labour’s fare freeze. With the average journey costing £6.88, a usual rise by July’s inflation figure would have seen each fare increase by 33p, meaning a total hike at the station of £1,566,410 – a figure that local passengers will now save this year thanks to Labour.
Publishing the figures, Labour’s Climate and Transport in Newcastle, Cllr Juna Sathian said:
“Labour is determined to help Newcastle families with the cost of living. Inflation is falling, wages are rising – including a huge rise in the minimum wage – and now rail fares are frozen for the first time in a generation, putting real money back in passengers’ pockets and circulating around the local economy.
“2026 is the year Britain turns the corner under Labour – more local breakfast clubs, more neighbourhood police, new rights for renters, NHS waiting lists and violent crime coming down and living standards going up.
“We all want to see change as fast as possible, and this year that change will become clearer every day – in the weekly shop, in monthly bills, in pay packets that finally go further and in communities that feel safer, cleaner, more confident again.”