Rail price hikes a ‘kick in the teeth’ as some commuters now pay additional £2000 per year compared to 2010
The average commuter is now paying an extra £600 compared with seven years ago
RAIL fare hikes were branded “another kick in the teeth” for commuters yesterday as figures show some commuters are paying more than £2,000 a year extra to travel to work than they did in 2010.
The average rail commuter now pays £2,788 a year for their rail season ticket - £594 more than they did seven years ago.
And a season ticket from Birmingham to London now costs commuters a staggering £10,200 - a rise of £2,172.
It came as the annual rise in rail fares was blasted by public transport campaigners.
The average UK wide 2.3 per cent increase comes into force today although fares on Virgin Trains East Coast services will shoot up by almost five per cent.
The overall rise is the highest since January 2014, when fares increased by 2.8 per cent.
Lianna Etkind, from the Campaign for Better Transport, said: "Today's fare rises are another kick in the teeth for long-suffering rail passengers.
"Many experienced a less frequent and more overcrowded service last year, and now they are required to pay more for the same this year.
“The whole fares system is completely unfair and its high time the Government overhauled it."
Bruce Williamson, of independent campaign group Railfuture, added: "With the chaos on Southern, lacklustre performance in Scotland and stalled electrification on the Great Western main line, passengers are going to wonder what they are getting for their increased ticket price.
"Our walk-on rail fares are already the most eye-watering in Europe, and with fuel duty frozen for motorists for the fifth year on the trot, it can't be denied that people are being priced off the railways."
Labour analysis of ticket costs found the average commuter is handing over £594 more for a season ticket than when the Conservatives came to power.
The party looked at prices on nearly 200 routes and found the highest increase was a season ticket on Virgin Trains between Birmingham and London Euston, which will cost passengers £2,172 more in 2017 than 2010.
An annual ticket between Tame Bridge Parkway, near Walsall, and Nuneaton will be 43 per cent higher.
And in Theresa May’s own constituency the cost of an annual season ticket from Maidenhead to London Paddington has rocketed by £628 since 2010.
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Commuters travelling from Brighton to London, who have endured pitiful services on the Southern Rail operated route, will be paying nearly £980 more than in 2010, Labour research found.
Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald said: "Passengers have faced truly staggering fare rises of over £2,000 since 2010. In some cases, commuters are paying 43% as a direct consequence of decisions made by ministers.
"Fares have risen more than three times faster than wages and passengers on some routes have also been hit by 'stealth fare rises' of up to 162%.
"Passengers were always told that higher fares were necessary to fund investment, but vital projects have been delayed by years and essential maintenance works have been put on hold.
"The truth is that our heavily fragmented railways mean that it takes years longer and costs much more than it should to deliver basic improvements.
"The railways need reforms that could be implemented if public ownership was extended to passenger services, but ministers are persisting with a failed model for purely ideological reasons."
But Transport Secretary Chris Grayling insisted he Government was delivering the “biggest rail modernisation programme for more than a century”.
He added: "We have always fairly balanced the cost of this investment between the taxpayer and the passenger."