Paying the price – the Tories are failing rail passengers

It was confirmed this morning that, from January, the cost of commuting by rail will have risen by 25% on average under the Tories.

This is a hammer blow to the hundreds of thousands of rail commuters who are forced to pay ever higher amounts to travel every day on increasingly unreliable and overcrowded trains.

In some areas the cost has risen by even greater amounts, thanks to the decision taken by Conservative Ministers in 2010 to reintroduce ‘flex’ – the train operators’ right to vary ticket prices by more than the nominal cap. In my own constituency of Nottingham South, commuters to Derby will be forced to pay 28% more than in 2010.

Regulated fares have risen by over 33% in some areas, including on heavily used London commuter routes. There is no link between higher fare rises and the investment on those routes. Flex was abolished under Labour and reintroduced by the Tories after heavy lobbying from the train operating companies, and passengers are paying the price.

Some of the cost increases are truly eye watering. In January the cost of an annual Virgin season ticket from Birmingham to London will have risen by almost £2,000. High office is no protection: the Prime Minister’s own constituents are also feeling the squeeze. The cost of a season ticket from Kingham – the closest station to Chipping Norton – to London Paddington will have risen by £1,339 between 2010 and 2016. The Chancellor’s Tatton seat was hit by a stealth fare hike on evening journeys last year, which raised the cost of travel by up to 162% in the North, but despite absorbing this hit, from next year commuters with annual season tickets from Chelford to Manchester will have to pay £455 more than when the Conservatives came to power.

Crucially, this year, the promised link between fare rises and investment in the railways has been broken. Ministers were warned before the election that the electrification programme was in serious trouble, but they still committed to key projects in the Conservative manifesto – only to put electrification of the Midland Main Line and the north TransPennine route on hold once the ballot boxes had closed.

Rail Minister Claire Perry claimed this morning that the Government was delivering a programme of ‘unprecedented investment’ – ignoring the fact that Labour invested more in the railways, in real terms, than any previous Government – but in reality Ministers have inflicted an unprecedented betrayal on rail passengers instead. Unfortunately, there is no prospect of commuters fare increases being similarly ‘paused’ when January comes around.

It remains to be seen whether the Government’s promised five year cap on fares will be honoured in letter and in spirit, or whether passengers will have be forced to pay yet more in stealth fare rises and hikes to unregulated fares. Changes are urgently needed – including a legal right to the cheapest fare, more public control of the railways and a strong voice for passengers – but the Tories have no appetite for meaningful and positive reform. Whatever happens, with electrification costs still rising, the Department’s budget under severe pressure and Ministers desperately scrambling to fund the bill for a litany of panicked and unfunded last-minute election pledges, it looks certain there will be more bad news to come for hard pressed commuters.