As you will know, this November marks 100 years since the end of the First World War. During WWI, 186,475 railway workers served under arms and nearly 19,000 made the ultimate sacrifice by losing their lives during the conflict. That is why, together, the rail industry is remembering all those fallen and affected by war and will be supporting remembrance acts across the country, offering free travel to active British military personnel making their way to and from Remembrance services across the country on Sunday 11th November 2018. In addition, working as official partners of the Royal British Legion ‘Thank You’ campaign, the rail industry is offering free travel to approximately 3,000 volunteers currently registered to raise money for City Poppy Day collections taking place in Bristol, London, Manchester and Birmingham. This will support an expected fundraising total of over £1 million to provide lifelong support for the Armed Forces community.
This latest initiative by the rail industry builds on the support already in place for the Armed Forces Covenant, such as the HM Forces Railcard that saves members of the Regular Forces, Volunteer Forces and their spouses/civil partners one third off most rail journeys (and 60% on children’s fares) throughout Great Britain for a whole year for a one-off payment of £21. There are currently 275,000 people eligible for this Railcard and last year, a total of 2,026,728 discounted journeys were made by Armed Forces personnel and their families using this card. Between April 2017 and March 2018, 75362 journeys to or within the East Midlands were made on the HM Forces Railcard. Further details on the HM Forces Railcard can be accessed here.