Season ticket price rises on rail strike lines
SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT RAIL passengers will be told they face higher fares this week despite suffering “extreme” disruption from union strikes.
Some routes are expected to see prices rise by £150 for an annual rail pass while the average yearly season ticket will cost an extra £40 next year. The fare rises for 2017 are likely to be announced this week and come at a time of continuing chaos caused by industrial action on the network.
Last night, a senior Tory minister accused the Rail Maritime and Transport union of waging a “war” against working members of the public who relied on trains every day.
Sir Patrick McLoughlin, the Conservative Party chairman, said union bosses were “bullying” working people.
Last week, the RMT announced three days of strikes on the Virgin Trains East Coast line, after hitting passengers in the South East with strikes on the Southern network in a row over jobs, working conditions and safety. The union also called strikes on Eurostar services.
Alex Neill, director of policy at the consumer group Which?, said: “The extreme disruption experienced by Southern passengers highlights a summer of discontent.
“Passengers shouldn’t have to deal with persistent poor service, disruption and inadequate compensation for their journeys. It’s little wonder that trust in the rail industry is falling. The Government must hold the industry to account by ensuring that passengers’ complaints are properly heard and where things go wrong they are put right promptly.”
Rail companies can increase fares by no more than the inflation figure for July each year on regulated tickets, such as season tickets.
This year’s July Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation rate is due to be published on Tuesday and has been hovering around 1.5 per cent since the beginning of the year. The rise will take effect from January.
While it will be one of the lowest annual increases since the railways were privatised, the timing is likely to anger passengers who have suffered overcrowding and disruption.
With inflation in the region of 1.5 per cent, the average cost of a season ticket would rise by £41 to about £2,777. A yearly ticket on Virgin Trains from Birmingham to London would rise by about £151 to £10,231.
The RMT is in talks with Southern Rail but has announced strike dates for the Virgin East Coast line – this Friday, Friday Aug 26, and Aug 29, a bank holiday Monday.
Sir Patrick, who was transport secretary until last month’s reshuffle, said: “This wave of unnecessary disruption has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with union bosses trying to bully commuters.
“They have boasted that their strike action is a ‘war’, and they are waging it against the travelling public.
“The contempt these bosses have for working people, including their own members, can be seen in the inflationbusting pay increases they award themselves.”
He added: “Our Conservative Government will not give in to bully boy tactics. We are determined to deliver a railway service that works for everyone.”
Last night, Which?, demanded that ministers restore faith in the railways after a poll of 2,000 adults found just 26 per cent trusted train companies, down seven points since July 2015.
Which? analysis of data from the raildar.co.uk website, based on train punctuality information, revealed that one in five Southern rail services were still delayed or cancelled. In the three weeks after the introduction in July of the emergency “strike” timetable, 314 were delayed and 67 cancelled out of 1,917 services per day.