Rail fares rip-off

Rail and Tube fares for London and the South are up to five times dearer than other major European cities, a survey reveals today.

An annual season ticket from Hemel Hempstead to Euston costs £2,504 for the 23-mile trip - compared with £510 for a journey of similar length to Berlin.

In London, an annual travelcard taking in a 15-mile radius of the city centre costs £1,580. In Paris, a similar ticket costs £950 to travel in a 20-mile radius; in Berlin, it costs £820 for a 40-mile radius; in Madrid the cost is only £510 for a 40-mile zone.

The research, by the RMT union, is the first to compare the combined annual cost of mainline rail and city metro services in different regions.

It comes after this January's inflation-busting fare increases - despite one in five trains running late. On some London commuter routes the figure is one in four.

There have been warnings of years of further rises - and campaign group Transport 2000 today said the issue could play a key role in the election.

Transport 2000 director Stephen Joseph said; "Unless the Government comes forward with a vision for the railways based on more capacity and reasonable fares, it could face defeat in commuter constituencies."

The survey also shows British mainline rail passengers can pay more per year to travel on a single route than their continental counterparts pay for unlimited travel across their entire country.

A yearly Milton Keynes-Euston season ticket costs £3,284 - but in Germany a ?2,047 ticket gives unlimited travel to anywhere in the country. In the Netherlands, passengers can buy an annual travel-anywhere ticket costing £1,382 - 138 per cent cheaper than the Milton Keynes ticket.

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said: "The rail privateers are taking out a billion pounds a year from the mainline railways and £2 million a week from the Tube - is it any wonder that commuters are paying through the nose for their tickets?

"Commuters in countries where the railways remain in public hands pay a fraction of season tickets costs here.

"The time has come to draw the line under privatisation and bring rail and Tube back to the public sector where they belong."

The RMT today launches its general election transport manifesto, with renationalisation at the top. Other rail unions are also expected to use the fares comparison to support their case for public control of railways.

The price of tickets for Tube zones 1-3 has jumped by up to three times the rate of inflation. On mainline rail, the biggest rise was 7.2 per cent on some Silverlink services into Euston.