Our military personnel are rightly valued throughout their service in HM armed forces. They make sacrifices and put themselves in danger to protect and serve our country. It is only right that we continue to show how much we value their efforts once they leave the armed forces too. Department for Transport Minister, The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP
Leading up to the 2019 election, the government promised to introduce a railcard for veterans program to assist with the cost of transportation. Today the Johnson government announced they will make it available from 11 November 2020, discounted train travel to the more than 830,000 veterans not covered by existing discounts.
We expect our service personnel to live and work all over the country, moving wherever they are needed to serve our great country. This often leads to service families, and former service families, living far away from friends and family and the communities they grew up in. Department for Transport Minister, The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP
It is important that all veterans have access to this railcard, supporting their access to vital work prospects and retraining opportunities, and making it easier for former members of the armed forces to stay in touch with friends and relatives.
This railcard will also allow their family to travel with them, potentially saving military families hundreds of pounds a year. This will be a welcomed measure alongside a much wider set of commitments that are being announced by the Minister for the Cabinet Office today in the government’s consultation response to last year’s consultation on the Strategy for our Veterans.
This new railcard is one of the first parts of this government’s commitment to make the UK the best place to be a veteran anywhere in the world.
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