The UK Rail Delivery Group announced Wednesday that its membership of the Eurail and Interrail cooperation, allowing unlimited train travel throughout Europe, will end next year.
Following a decision go the Dutch Eurail group, to make EUrail and Interrail passes one, the company has decided to end the UK’s membership from 1 January 2020, despite the company’s will to remain part of the group. “The Eurail group has decided to end our membership from 1 January 2020, despite us wanting to remain part of the group. This is not linked to our membership of the EU,” the UK Rail Delivery Group announced on Twitter.
The company confirms that “British people can still buy an Interrail pass, get the Eurostar from London and travel across mainland Europe by train.” The company claims that people visiting Britain, can buy a Britrail Pass which can be held on a smartphone and includes more benefits, such as discounts on 200 attractions across the UK, while Interrail and Eurail Passes purchased before 31 December 2019 will still remain valid for travelling on Britain’s rail network until the end of their validity period.
EUrail and Interrail companies’ announcement claims, however that the decision is of the British company, as the Rail Delivery Group’s priority “to secure a competitive position for their BritRail Pas has led them to pull out of Interrail and EUrail.” The company regrets this decision and strongly believes that remaining a member “would be beneficial to both the participating British railways” as well as for the community of travellers.
The withdrawal of membership comes even though negotiations were taking place but the companies have been unable to strike an agreement. “In the remaining months of 2019, we will put all our efforts into informing our EUrail and Interrail community and continue our commitment to our travellers to give them a great travel experience in Europe,” concludes EUrail’s General Manager, Carlo Boselli.
Andy McDonald, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said the move was “deeply irresponsible,” as the world is “in the middle of a climate crisis and have just 11 years to drastically reduce emissions to avoid catastrophe,” he said. “We should be making it easier for people to travel between countries by rail, not encouraging flying by making rail travel more expensive and difficult.”
