Philip Hammond urged to block sky-high hikes in rail fares after news they will soar by 3.6% in January
The pressure is on the Chancellor to use his Autumn Budget to overhaul the way fares are measured.
RAIL commuters were furious yesterday after it emerged average fares will rise 3.6 per cent next year — the biggest hike since 2013.
Chancellor Philip Hammond was under pressure last night to block the increases, which will see some annual season tickets into London jump by nearly £200.
Regional commutes will also soar by up to £120 as a result of the annual rise in regulated fares, which are based on July’s 3.6 per cent retail price index (RPI) inflation measure. Stephen Joseph, head of Campaign for Better Transport, said: “This will leave many struggling to meet the cost of their commute.
“We want the Government to bring in a freeze for January. It’s frozen fuel duty for the last seven years. We think rail fares should get the same treatment.”
A survey last week before the rise found just 47 per cent of passengers thought fares were value for money.
But from January, a season ticket on the hour-long Swindon to London service with Tube travel will rise £328 to £9,448.
Other increases include Southampton to London, up £198 from £5,504 to £5,702 while Canterbury to London goes from £5,224 to £5,412, a £188 rise, according to Campaign for Better Transport stats.
Other hikes include Manchester to Liverpool season tickets, up from £3,044 to £3,154, with Leeds to York rising from £2,232 to £2,312.
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The rise in regulated fares, which include standard returns, means at least an extra £337million in revenue for the train operators, the Rail, Maritime and Transport union calculated.
It sparked an angry reaction from commuters, including Natasha Coello, 36, who injured her collarbone when her train hit buffers yesterday morning at London’s King’s Cross.
The mum of two, 36, who is a finance manager, fumed: “My ticket costs me £27.30 from Stevenage.
“That is £436.80 a month for me to stand all the way even though all first-class carriages are empty in the morning.
There are also delays due to a driver not turning up, and after today’s incident I have paid for me to come to work injured. How can they justify these rail prices?”
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RMT leader Mick Cash called for an end to “Government-sponsored racketeering”.
He said: “The huge hike is another kick in the teeth for passengers who already fork out colossal sums to travel on rammed, unreliable trains while the private operators laugh all the way to the bank.”
RMT analysis showed rail fares have risen by around 32 per cent in eight years, while earnings grew by just 16 per cent.
Mr Hammond was last night under pressure to use his Autumn Budget to overhaul how fares are measured. Labour called for fare rises to be pegged to the Consumer Prices Index — 2.6 per cent — instead of RPI.
An insider told The Sun: “It’s up to the Chancellor whether to change current Government policy. When would you announce a change? In the next fiscal event.”
A spokesman for Mr Hammond refused to rule out a change.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan called the rises “unacceptable” and urged ministers to match his own fares freeze in the capital.
Paul Plummer, chief of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train firms and Network Rail, said “politicians set increases to season tickets”.
He added: “Money from fares pays to run and improve the railway, making journeys better, boosting the economy, creating skilled jobs and supporting communities across Britain.”
And Transport Secretary Chris Grayling’s department said: “We are investing in the biggest rail modernisation programme for over a century to improve services for passengers — providing faster and better trains with more seats.”
A kick in teeth for passengers
ENOUGH is enough. The decision by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to allow train companies to put up rail fares by nearly four per cent is a kick in the teeth for rail passengers.
They are already suffering from stagnant wages and rising food prices.
Worse, it is happening at a time when train delays and cancellations are increasing, and half the platforms are out of use at Waterloo, Britain’s busiest rail station, because it is being refurbished.
Grayling could have stopped these rises but instead is happy to let them through. For more than a decade, fares have gone up by more than inflation.
Ministers promised that this would stop and instead said they would only rise in line with the Retail Price Index. That might have been OK if the low inflation of recent years had continued. But the fall in the Pound caused by Brexit, together with lower than inflation wage rises means that many commuters and other regular rail users will be heavily out of pocket once the increases kick in next January.
Rail passengers should write to their MPs and press for these rises to be stopped.
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THE Government was urged to stop pegging rises to the RPI inflation rate while it uses CPI for almost everything else.
RPI includes housing costs such as mortgage interest payments and council tax, which CPI does not.
Campaigner Stephen Joseph called for a switch, adding: “Rises should more accurately reflect real inflation.”