Campaigners call for public ownership as fares rise nearly three times faster than wages

Campaigners gathered at over 30 stations across England and Scotland yesterday (August 18), from London Waterloo to Glasgow Central, to protest another rise in rail fares and to call for an affordable railway under public ownership. Members of rail unions, campaigning groups and others came together as the inflation figure used to calculate the annual rise in regulated rail fares was announced.

Action for Rail published new analysis yesterday revealing that rail fares for season tickets, and other regulated fares, have risen nearly three times faster than wages over the last five years. The government has announced plans to cap rises in regulated fares at the Retail Price Index (RPI) measure of inflation for this parliament. But the Department for Transport’s own figures reveal the cost of the cap to taxpayers will be £700m!

Research commissioned by Action for Rail earlier this year showed that public ownership could save £1.5bn over the next five years,  with savings passed on to passengers and taxpayers – season tickets alone could be 10 per cent cheaper by 2017! A third of the savings (£520m) would come from recouping the money private train companies pay in dividends to their shareholders.