Railfuture
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| Founded | 1978 (One predecessor founded 1951) |
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| Focus | Transport |
| Location |
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Area served
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United Kingdom |
| Method | Political advocacy |
| Website | www.railfuture.org.uk |
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Formerly called
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Railway Development Society |
Railfuture (formerly the Railway Development Society) is a UK advocacy group that promotes better rail services for passengers and freight. The group's national policies are determined by its regional branches (12 in England, plus one each in Wales and Scotland). Its president is Christian Wolmar, a transport writer and broadcaster.
Railfuture's opinions and campaigns receive coverage in the UK press, including national, regional, and rail publications. It has been mentioned in both houses of parliament, and transport unions and international press also cite its reports and follow its actions. It claims to have 20,000 affiliated and individual members.
The Railway Development Society (RDS) was founded when the Railway Invigoration Society (RIS) and the Railway Development Association (RDA, founded 1951) merged in 1978. A founding member of the RDA was poet and rail enthusiast Sir John Betjeman.
One of the society's main campaign points is the retention of railway lines threatened with closure and the reopening of closed lines. Campaigns with successful outcomes include the saving of the Settle–Carlisle line in the 1980s, improvements to the Oxford–Bicester line, and the reopening of the Borders Railway.
The group has twelve English regional branches, plus Railfuture Scotland and Railfuture Wales.
The organisation has campaigned a reworking of concessionary fares on the British railway network by the introduction of a uniform "National Railcard" scheme to replace the railcards including the 16–25 Railcard, Network Railcard and Senior Railcard. Such a card was envisaged to take a similar form to existing BahnCard products offered by Deutsche Bahn in Germany. In April 2003, a study undertaken jointly by Railfuture and the Rail Passengers Council (later "Passenger Focus") stated that three million rail travellers might buy such a railcard if it were priced at £20.00, and offered a one-third discount for off-peak travel.
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