Rail passengers set for 'largest fares hike in five years' from January

Average ticket prices across Britain will go up by 3.4% on January 2, i ndustry body the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) said.

It is the sharpest rise since 2013, when fares increased by 3.9%.

Passenger watchdog Transport Focus compared the news to "a chill wind" blowing down platforms as many passengers' incomes are stagnating or falling.

Chief executive Anthony Smith said: "While substantial, welcome investment in new trains and improved track and signals is continuing, passengers are still seeing the basic promises made by the rail industry broken on too many days."

One in nine trains (12%) failed to meet the rail industry's punctuality target in the past 12 months.

That means they arrived at terminating stations more than five minutes late for commuter services or 10 minutes late for long-distance journeys.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union described the fares announcement as "another kick in the teeth" for passengers.

General secretary Mick Cash said: "For public sector workers and many others in our communities who have had their pay and benefits capped or frozen by this Government, these fare increases are another twist of the economic knife.

"The private train companies are laughing all the way to the bank."

Fewer than half (47%) of passengers are satisfied with the value for money of train tickets, according to Transport Focus.

The Government uses the previous July's Retail Prices Index measure of inflation to determine increases in regulated fares, which was 3.6%.

These are around half of all tickets and include season tickets on most commuter routes and some off-peak return tickets on long-distance journeys.

Train operating companies set the prices of other tickets but are bound by competition rules.

The RDG said more than 97p in every pound from fares goes back into improving and running the railway.

C hief executive Paul Plummer noted that the Government controls increases to almost half of fares while the rest are "heavily influenced" by the payments train companies make as part of contracts to run franchises.

He said: " Alongside investment from the public and private sectors, money from fares is underpinning the partnership railway's long-term plan to change and improve."

It has been the policy of successive governments to reduce the funding of the railways by taxpayers and increase the relative contribution of passengers.

Here are the average train fare increases across Britain since 2013, according to the RDG:

:: January 2013 - 3.9%

:: January 2014 - 2.8%

:: January 2015 - 2.2%

:: January 2016 - 1.1%

:: January 2017 - 2.3%

:: January 2018 - 3.4%

Office of Rail and Road figures published in October showed that £4.2 billion of taxpayers' cash went to the rail industry in 2016/17.

Taking inflation into account, t his is down almost 13% on the previous year but more than twice as much as British Rail used to get before the rail network was privatised.

The RDG highlighted that private investment in rail reached a record £925 million in 2016/17.