More train pain for commuters

Paying up to 14.5 per cent more for a ticket is outrageous when inflation - as measured by the Retail Price Index - is 4.3 per cent.

But paying significantly more for a ticket when passenger services over the New Year are seriously disrupted and Virgin Trains are advising travellers not to travel by rail - because of overrunning engineering work by Network Rail - adds insult to injury.

And problems with engineering work meant Liverpool Street failed to re-open this morning.

For commuters with no option but train travel, today's increases will hit hard. All London commuter operators will increase peak-time fares by an average of 4.8 per cent except Southeastern, where the average is 6.8 per cent. Those ticket prices are regulated by government. But there are no limits for off-peak and first class fares and increases in these are still significantly above inflation. Services show few signs of commensurate improvement. Some passengers on SouthWest Trains are threatening to follow the example of those on First Great Western Services with a fare strike to protest at large fares and cramped conditions.

The blame lies with the operators and the Government. Ministers' priority is to reduce the present level of government subsidy for rail services, now £5 billion a year. They do this by ratcheting up the cost of the rail operators' franchises, who then promptly pass the increased costs, and more, on to passengers. This shabby collusion between government and the operators - whose parentcompany profits amount to tens of millions of pounds a year - is why passengers find themselves, this year as last, paying more for worse services.