Over 90% of RMT members said that invalid tickets were sold to passengers, which led to them paying higher fares on the day or even having to fork out for penalty fares.
Eight in 10 of the 2,600 workers surveyed said they had dealt with travellers who had bought a ticket through Trainline that was ‘useless’ and needed a new purchase.
There were also issues with overpriced tickets, according to the trade union’s findings, with 60% of rail workers reporting that prices were “consistently higher than necessary”.
The survey also noted that “the platform frequently fails to apply discounts such as GroupSave or regional offers”, meaning customers would pay more than directly at a ticket office.
Trainline administers the sales of all train tickets on the National Rail, which runs the UK’s train network. The ticket-selling giant announced it sold over £3bn worth of fares for the six months to August this year.
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In 2023, the platform accounted for a third of all train ticket sales sold in the UK, and now it is responsible for 51% of all online sales.
As well as pricing problems, the RMT said the default settings of the Trainline app and online services prioritise expensive fares and do not integrate journeys with real-time updates or cancellations.
Overall, it said 90% of members think the platform doesn’t give users value for money.
However, earlier this year, a separate study by Which? found tickets bought from station machines were almost double the cost versus those available online for 75 journeys at 15 ticket machines, owned by different train operators.
One same-day ticket for a trip from Northampton to Cardiff on London Northwestern was 52% more expensive when bought from a machine, costing £107 and only £43 from Trainline.
Another example was a trip to York from Hitchin on Great Northern, which cost £133 from a machine but just £55 on the online alternative.
To address the pricing mismatch, Mick Lynch, RMT’s general secretary, has called for the Government to nationalise the rail network.
‘Unnecessarily costing taxpayers’
Lynch said: “Trainline is a profiteering machine that’s ripping off passengers and unnecessarily costing taxpayers. Their model relies on hidden fees, deceptive ticket options, and overpriced fares – all designed to boost shareholder profits at the public’s expense.
“A nationalised, publicly owned rail ticketing system would mean transparency, fair prices, and best value fares for every passenger.”
Lynch added “RMT supports plans to simplify ticketing and the creation of Great British Railways should be an opportunity to tackle the rip-off and the confusion that Trainline has thrived off. It is a first step to ensuring rail ticketing returns to public ownership, putting passengers and staff first.”
Trainline’s response:
Following the survey, Trainline told YourMoney.com: “We’re proud to offer great value and easy, modern ways to buy train tickets to millions of UK passengers every month, giving our customers average savings of 35% through SplitSave, railcards and advance tickets.
“We are the UK’s most popular app for all travel, not just for rail, and the British public’s most trusted channel for buying train tickets at the best available price. While this RMT attack is riddled with errors, we will continue investing in new tech and working in partnership with the Government to make rail travel easier and more attractive.”
It disputed the claims made in the survey about the platform’s discounts, default settings and ‘guaranteed best fare’, which it said is published on its website. The platform added that the default settings of the app and online platform are “the best option for the customers” and the discounts like SplitSave and GroupSave are automatically applied.
Trainline also said two-thirds of its tickets are sold without booking fees.
It noted: “We also offer details on cheaper, slower journeys [that] take significantly longer and involve more changes but can provide further savings.
“We are an official accredited retailer licensed by the rail industry. We sell the same ticket types as train operators, with the same terms and conditions set by the train operators. We simplify the complexity of rail tickets for the public, and where confusion exists, we lead the way in ensuring that customers are provided with simple and clear instructions – as with the recent issue regarding Railcard validity.
“We provide real-time information to our customers, with feeds taken directly from rail industry systems – and our platform also powers many of the train operator apps and websites. As every Trainline user knows, we also provide proactive information through our app and via email about train delays, and we also notify customers when they are entitled to Delay Repay compensation.”
