Train fares to increase by 3.2% from January 2019.
TO coincide with confirmation of the 3.2% train fares hike announced this morning, Labour has compared the costs on several train routes in the South East between when the Conservatives came to power and the projected new prices that will be implemented this January 2019.
The average commuter in the UK will now be paying £2,980 for their season ticket, £786 more than in 2010.
Those travelling on the Brighton – London and Hove to London routes will be paying £1290 more to travel to work than in 2010.
Average fares have risen more than three times faster than wages and in Theresa May’s own constituency the cost of an annual season ticket from Maidenhead to London Paddington has risen by £831 since 2010.
The amount by which train companies can raise regulated fares is the responsibility of the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling MP who has the power to enforce this. However, the Secretary of State choose to write a letter to the trade unions asking for rail staff to accept a pay cap.
By making no similar request for the bosses of train companies to take a pay cut or for shareholders to refuse dividends, the trade unions accuse him of letting the train companies off the hook again.
Labour has committed to keeping fares down and pegged to no more than a rise of CPI. Labour has also called on the Government to freeze rail fares on the routes most severely affected by the timetable changes – Govia Thameslink, Arriva Rail North and First Transpennine Express.
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said: “Today’s train fare increases are an insult to everyone who has suffered from the chaos on Britain’s railways.
“The Government’s shambolic mismanagement of our railways has been a national embarrassment and they must now step in to freeze fares charged on the worst performing routes.
“Labour will take back control of our railways by bringing them into public ownership so they are run in the interests of passengers, not private profit.”
Responding to Chris Grayling’s comments on rail fare increases, Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “This is a pathetic attempt by Chris Grayling to shift the blame for Tory fares policy. The amount by which train companies can raise regulated fares is the responsibility of the Transport Secretary. He has the power to enforce this, he’s just choosing not to.
“The Secretary of State has washed his hands of years of industrial action on the railway, saying it was the responsibility of train companies, but is now intervening over staff pay. At best this is a distraction technique and at worse a recipe for years of industrial action.
“Chris Grayling made no similar request for the bosses of train companies to take a pay cut or for shareholders to refuse dividends. The men and women who run the railway are being singled out while greedy train companies are let off the hook yet again.
“The truth is that our fragmented, privatised railway drives up costs and leaves passengers paying more for less, not staff.
“The railways need serious reform, not a plea to train companies, but Ministers are persisting with a failed model of privatisation that is punishing passengers and taxpayers. Instead, Labour would use money saved from bringing passenger services into public ownership to cap regulated fare rises at the Consumer Price Index.”
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