Anger as rail fares set to rise ‘with
no improvement seen in services’

RAIL fares are to rise this week at a time of “no perceptible improvement in services”, a campaign group has said.

The average season ticket increase of 4.2 per cent, which takes effect on Wednesday, is the tenth above-inflation increase in a row, according to Railfuture.

And many fares are set to go up even more, with the price of a year’s season ticket between Leeds and Wakefield to rise by 6.2 per cent, from £908 to £964, for example.

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The Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) has said that the overall average rise, including non-season tickets, will be 3.9 per cent.

But with some non-season-ticket unregulated fares allowed to be increased by an unlimited amount, Railfuture said some passengers could be hit with increases of up to 12 per cent.

Spokesman Bruce Williamson said: “Yet again, rail fares go up with no perceptible improvement in service.

“Over the last 10 years, fares have increased by more than 50 per cent – much more than people’s incomes.”

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This year regulated fares, which include season tickets, can be increased by the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation rate plus one per cent.

Campaigners say annual increases should be limited to no more than the rate of the inflation and should be based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure, a lower figure which pensions, benefits and salaries are linked to.

Mr Williamson said: “Petrol tax is frozen and overall the cost of driving remains static. How does this help persuade people out of their cars and ease congestion? Where is the green policy?

“The train operating companies may say they need the money for improvements, but how much fare income is actually spent on improvements? Fares income is not ring-fenced for anything.”

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Protests were held at 50 stations across the country including in Leeds, Doncaster and Hull over the “eye-watering price hikes” earlier this month.

Campaigners lobbied travellers warning of more ticket office closures, staff cuts, delays and disruption to come in 2013 despite the increase in fares.

Mr Williamson said yesterday that most passengers would consider it reasonable that there is a correlation between the level of fares and the service they get.

He said: “Our fares are the highest in Europe – do we have the best rail service in Europe?

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“Of course, there are some heavily discounted advance tickets to be had, but people want to just turn up and go at a reasonable price when it suits them.

“Discounting advance tickets is a way of managing passengers to suit the needs of the railway. I think we should be managing the railway to suit the needs of the passengers.”

Andrew Oldfield, treasurer of the Yorkshire branch of Railfuture, said the country’s rail network was “still playing catch-up after decades of neglect” following the publication of the Beeching Report, the 50th anniversary of which will be marked in 2013.

The report led to the closure of 8,000 miles of track and 2,000 stations at a cost of nearly 70,000 jobs.

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Many communities in the region are desperately seeking to have their rank link reinstated to address severe traffic congestion, such as those in Market Weighton, Otley and Ripon, or to aid recovery and regeneration, such as those along the Barnsley-Mexborough corridor, he said.

Mr Oldfield, of Sheffield, added that there had been a “wasted opportunity” to tackle the Bedford-Leeds electrification gap by Midland Main Line this year.

“By restricting the wires to Sheffield, South Yorkshire is set to 
remain the most highly populated area in the UK without an 
electrified local rail network,” he said.

He is calling for a “concerted approach by all parties” to lobby for electrification of the South Yorkshire rail network following on from the north Trans-Pennine electrification project.

“This should be seen as a natural and vital extension of the Northern Hub package to deliver long overdue parity for South Yorkshire with rival regions,” he said.

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