Call to exempt Southern and Thameslink passengers from '˜price hike'

Southern and Thameslink passengers should be exempt from another '˜price hike' in rail fares due in January because of the recent disruption they have suffered, according to Hove's MP.
Southern trainSouthern train
Southern train

Services run by Govia Thameslink Railway have experienced problems since a massive shake-up of train timetables in May.

Both operator GTR and Network Rail apologised, with the late sign-off of the changes blamed for cancellations and disruption, while an interim timetable for the Thameslink network introduced last month.

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A 3.5 per cent increase in regulated rail fares is expected to be confirmed this week when the Office for National Statistics reveals the July inflation rate – the figure used to set ticket price rises for the following January.

Analysis by the RMT union shows rail fares have increased at twice the rate of wages since 2010.

Peter Kyle, Labour MP for Hove, said: “It’s totally unfair and unjustifiable for passengers to be made to pay more and more for a service that keeps getting worse, and it’s shameful to force passengers who have endured weeks of misery to pay more for the privilege.

“Given the appalling disruption Southern and Thameslink passengers have faced, the very least the Government could do is exempt these passengers from the price hike.”

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The Department for Transport (DfT) uses the Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation measure each July to determine the annual increase in regulated train fares, including season tickets on most commuter routes.

A DfT spokesman said: “Any fare increase is unwelcome, but it is not fair to ask people who do not use trains to pay more for those who do.

“Taxpayers already subsidise the network by more than £4 billion a year – meaning that 38 per cent of our transport budget is spent on the two per cent of journeys that the railway accounts for.”

Both the RMT and train drivers’ union ASLEF criticised the likely fare rises.

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Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT, said: “Despite all the timetable chaos and service and staff cuts our rail fares are up to 5 times more than fares in Europe and are rising twice as fast as wages. That is nothing short of a scandal.

“Even if fares were pegged at the more modest CPI [Consumer Price Index] these latest increases would still massively outstrip wages leaving the British passenger to pay through the nose to travel on rammed out and unreliable services.”

Meanwhile Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, singled out transport secretary Chris Grayling for criticism.

He said: “Mr Grayling wants passengers to pay more for a poorer service. That’s not a great offer, is it? For passengers – or voters at the next election.

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“Commuters complain about persistent delays and cancellations, the consumer group Which? says the privatised train operators are one of this country’s least-trusted groups – beaten to bottom place only by second-hand car dealers – wages aren’t keeping up with inflation and yet Mr Grayling is pushing up prices yet again. What a way to run the railway.”