Rail users stung again

Rail commuters were hit with a double whammy today - inflation-busting fare rises and more cuts in services.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling also admitted that delays were worse than ever.

He chose the moment that the Strategic Rail Authority was outlining cutbacks to say that passengers would have to pay more, saying that although standards were " disappointing", fares will rise by about four per cent.

Mr Darling said a formula which has limited recent increases to below the inflation rate was "totally unrealistic" and would be scrapped. The current rate of inflation is three per cent.

"We have got to get the balance right between what the passenger pays and what the taxpayer pays," he said. "One thing is certain, the money can only come from one of those two sources." As Mr Darling spoke, the SRA was unveiling a new strategy of axing some services completely in an attempt to

make congested lines run more smoothly. The authority also issued figures showing a fifth of trains run late. The number running on time fell in the past year from 80.9 per cent to 80.5 per cent.

In addition, the SRA said that complaints from the public were soaring. The number of complaints per 100,000 journeys increased eight per cent in the past year.

Mr Darling said: "If you look at the figures over the last 12 months, they have not improved in the way they should. The performance to date has been disappointing."

The company with the poorest figures was Virgin CrossCountry, which ran only 67.8 per cent of trains on time in the first three months of this year.

Despite the delays, the number of passenger journeys increased by six per cent from January to March 2002 and January to March 2003, but the amount of freight moved fell by two per cent.

The SRA insisted overcrowding was less marked on London services in the first three months of 2003 and that passengers were happier overall.

When pressed on how many trains would be cancelled, chairman Richard Bowker said: "It is an unanswerable question. We don't know how many services might need modification in order to improve performance."

Since privatisation there has been a 20per cent increase in services but punctuality is worse than before the Hatfield crash in 2000 which caused widespread disruption.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT union, said: "It's hard to see what the SRA's strategy is, other than to cut rail services and use public money to fund union-busting employers.

"Today's announcements simply mean that the travelling public will be paying more for fewer services."