‘Another decade of rail misery’ as commuters face ‘inflation-busting’ fare rises

SCOTS rail users face “another decade of misery” as fares are today hiked by an inflation-busting average of 2.4%, campaign groups have claimed.

Some commuters in Scotland will see the annual cost of getting to work increase by more than £100 from today despite fewer than two-thirds of trains being on time in the UK last year.

At the start of last year, peak fares rose by 3.2% while rail users bombarded Scotrail with complaints in the wake of hundreds of service cancellations covering four months, after the introduction of a new winter timetable at the start of December 2018.

The Consumer Prices Index 12-month inflation rate was 1.5% in November 2019, the same level recorded in October.

The rise comes a few weeks after it was announced Abellio had been stripped of the Scotrail franchise three years early in the wake of continuing outrage over service failings.

Bruce Williamson, of pressure group Railfuture, claimed fares are “outstripping people’s incomes”.

He said: “Welcome to another decade of misery for rail passengers.

“How on earth is the Government going to meet its climate commitments by pricing people off environmentally-friendly trains and on to our polluted and congested roads?”

The transport staff union TSSA also condemned the rate of increase, which will see an annual season ticket between Glasgow to Edinburgh rise by £116 to £4,200, while a similar pass between Tweedbank and Edinburgh on the Borders Railway will go up by £80 to £2,900.

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: “Millions of Scottish commuters are being dealt a slap in the face by inflationbusting fare rises while their own wages stagnate.”

Network Rail data shows around one in three trains in the UK did not arrive at their scheduled station stop within one minute of the timetable in the 12 months to December 7.

Transport Focus director David Sidebottom said: “After a year of pretty poor performance in some areas, passengers just want a consistent day-today service they can rely on and a better chance of getting a seat.”

He urged passengers to “offset the cost of the fare rises” by claiming compensation for every eligible delay.

Passengers buying tickets for day trips have also been hit by the fares rise.

An off-peak return ticket from Dundee to Edinburgh will increase in price by 50p to £29.40.

The increase in around 45% of fares, including season tickets, is regulated by the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments.

This is predominantly capped at July’s RPI inflation figure, which was 2.8%. In Scotland regulated off-peak fares are at one per cent below RPI.

Industry body, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) says 98p of every £1 spent on train fares goes towards running and maintaining services.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are committed to ensuring rail fares are affordable for passengers and taxpayers by capping increases where we have influence, making fares 20 per cent cheaper on average than in the rest of Great Britain.

“Two-thirds of the cost of running the railway is already met through Scottish Government subsidy, with the remainder through rail passenger revenues.

“Any change to rail fares could therefore have a significant impact on the taxpayer.”