Students offered half price rail travel to encourage more commuting by train

Students across Greater Manchester are being offered half-price school-run tickets for the entire 2024-25 academic year.

Northern Rail is offering the discount and hopes it will convince children under 16 and their parents or guardians to convert their school run from road to rail.

The discount is available until Friday 20 September through Northern’s Under 16 Education Season Ticket scheme.

Mark Powles, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “As well as providing a significant saving on the cost of the school commute, U16 Education Season Tickets can be used at weekends and bank holidays too – not just the 195 days a year that schools are open.

“We have a long-running campaign to encourage people to convert from road to rail – and if we can get young people in the habit while they’re at school, we hope they will stick with it when they move into further education or the workplace.”

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with nearly 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.