Thousands of frustrated young adults spent hours trying to get their hands on the new 26-30 railcard, dubbed the millennial railcard, when it launched on Tuesday. Only 10,000 of the new railcards were released to the public, however within minutes of going on sale the website crashed due to "unprecedented" demand.
A statement released on the National Railcards official Twitter account said: "We've had an unprecedented number of people visiting our site for the 26-30 Railcard. Please bear with us, we've got the whole team working on it and hope we can have it back up shortly." They also reassured customers at 10:20am that there were still railcards available, however there were still website difficulties due to the demand.
The 26-30 railcard launched on Tuesday
Many people turned to Twitter to share their frustration at being unable to get on the website, with #railcard trending on the social networking site. "Wonder if the plan is to make us wait until we're too old to use them," one person commented. Others compared getting hold of the railcard to winning an elusive Golden Ticket in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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The 26-30 railcard was announced in late 2017, and allows users to save a third off most fares, although no discount can be used on season tickets, and the cost of some peak time travel will not be reduced. The card costs £30 each year, with many users saving the cost of the card within just one or two journeys. However, rather than being a physical card, the 26-30 card will be available via the Railcard app on your phone. They are available to purchase at 26-30railcard.co.uk.
Only 10,000 cards have been made available
Tuesday's nationwide launch follows a trial across the Greater Anglia network in December, during which another 10,000 railcards were made available. There is currently a limited number of cards available while the scheme is trialled to assess the impact on revenue and passenger numbers, however, it is expected it will eventually be rolled out across the UK.