Fury at rail fare rises

Commuter fury mounted today after mainline rail chiefs announced peak time fares would increase by four per cent on average from January - despite only marginal improvements to service.

On some London routes, because of anomalies in the way fares are calculated, ticket prices will increase by up to double the average. Off-peak fares will rise by an average of 3.5 per cent.

Users of Travelcards - the combined rail and Tube ticket - will be among the hardest hit because Ken Livingstone has increased fares by above the rate of inflation.

The mainline rail increases come despite the most recent statistics showing that, year on year, service levels acros the UK have improved by just 0.2 per cent.

George Muir, director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies-ATOC) - umbrella group for the passenger service operators, said: "Fares have to rise to pay for huge investment - new trains, better passenger facilities, improved customer information and more security at stations."

A four per cent increase would mean a yearly season ticket between Sevenoaks and London, currently?1,808, rising by ?72. From Ashford the ?2,720 current annual season ticket will increase by ?109, from Winchester, currently ?3,116, it will be an additional ?125 and from Salisbury, currently ?3,344, an extra ?134.

This is despite the fact that many of the new ?1-million-a-carriage trains now entering service on London's commuter routes are less reliable than the 40-yearold-slam door stock. Some stations are in such an appalling state passengers "fear to tread" there in the evenings, the watchdog Rail Passengers Council for Southern England warned last month. And yesterday it was revealed that passenger frustration often boils over into unjustified attacks on rail staff.

The four per cent average increase was revealed by the Evening Standard two months ago.

Fewer than four out of five peak time trains run by some of London's busiest commuter operators ran on time, according to most recent figures from the Strategic Rail Authority. The average of the 10 commuter train operators serving the capital during peak periods for the three months to the end of June for trains arriving on time was 81.9 per cent - a 1.1 per cent reduction for the same period last year.