'The choice' the country faces on rail

Today, Mary Creagh, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary sets out ‘The Choice’ the country faces on the railways. New RPI inflation statistics, which were revealed at 9:30 today, are used by the Department for Transport to set regulated fare increases for 2015. Which is an increase of 3.5% the DfT have announced.

Mary Creagh will use at speech at ARUP in central London to warn of the risk of five more years of Tory failure on tackling rising fares or reforming the broken market, and publish new figures from the Commons Library showing fares, already up by 21.5 per cent since 2010, could rise by a further 24 per cent by 2018.

Mary Creagh MP, commenting on the rise in fares, said: "David Cameron has failed to stand up for working people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. He’s allowed train companies to sting passengers with inflation-busting fare rises of over 20 per cent since 2010, costing them hundreds of pounds. We can’t go on like this. The choice facing passengers is between fares rising another 24 per cent by 2018 under the Tories, or a Labour Government which will cap annual fares on every route and enact the biggest railway reforms since the Tories’ botched privatisation, delivering a better deal for passengers and taxpayers."

In the speech Mary Creagh will say:

On fares

"Our rail fares are among the highest in Europe. Commuter season tickets have risen on average a painful twenty per cent under this Government, fuelling the cost of living crisis. Rail passengers rightly feel ripped off when they are uncertain if they paid the lowest fare. Labour will create a legal right to the cheapest ticket for your journey, ending the confusion passengers experience. We will introduce a strict cap on rail fares, removing the ‘flex’ arrangement that allows train companies to raise fares more on some routes."

On reform and franchising

"The Tory-led government’s West Coast franchise fiasco cost taxpayers fifty million pounds directly. And hundreds of millions more was lost in the resulting delays to investment and franchise extensions. The next Labour government will create a new organisation - a single guiding mind - to plan investment and services. This new body will bring Network Rail together with a representative passenger rail organisation. It will contract routes; coordinate services; oversee stations, fares and ticketing; plan new rolling stock; raise skills and be accountable for customer satisfaction. The next Labour Government will review the franchising process and put in place a system that is fit for purpose."

On a public sector comparator

"Building on the success of East Coast, we will legislate to allow a public sector operator to take on new lines and challenge the train operators on a level playing field. This will ensure better value for money for both passengers and taxpayers."

Mary Creagh says that the choice is clear: continuing failure and rising fares from the Tories or Labour's programme to reform the nation’s railway and tackle rising fares. Labour plans to reform the railways to get a better deal for taxpayers and passengers by:

• Create a new "guiding mind" for the railway, bringing Network Rail together with a new representative passenger rail body to contract routes; co-ordinate industry services and skills; oversee stations, fares and ticketing; and ensure customer satisfaction across the network;
• Review the Government’s failed franchise system, after the chaos of recent years, to put the passenger and taxpayer first;
• Legislate to allow a public sector operator to take on lines and challenge the train operators on a level playing field to secure value for money;
• Build cooperative principles to increase passenger and employee involvement, including encouraging mutuals and co-operatives into the industry;
• Devolve decisions over the running of regional and local services so that local areas can bring together trains, buses, trams into a single network;
• Tackle the monopoly market for train carriages by giving Network Rail greater responsibility to develop a long term plan for procurement and lease of new rolling stock;
• Ease the pressure on fare payers by passing on the savings from our reforms by capping annual fare rises on every route, simplifying fare structures and creating a new legal right to the cheapest ticket.

Responding to Mrs Creagh's speech, Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin commented: "This is the same old Labour - with 8 months to go before an election, they're suddenly trying to rewrite their record. The last Labour government oversaw year after year of inflation busting fare rises - a mammoth 11 per cent in their last full year. They have no credibility when it comes to talking about the railways."

"This Government is working hard to turn things around and help families with the cost of travel. This year we were able to cap fare rises at the rate of inflation -only possible because we've cut inefficient spending elsewhere as part of our long-term economic plan."

"We fully recognise there's more to do to bring down the cost of rail travel in Britain. But we need to do it responsibly and we can't spend money we don't have. What Labour are proposing today is an uncosted spending commitment that would mean over £100 million more government borrowing - adding more debt than our children and grandchildren could ever hope to repay."

Natalie Bennett calls for the "Renationalisation of rail"

The Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has called for the renationalisation of the nation’s railways, as the ‘only way’ to stop rocketing prices forcing people to stay at home – or into cars. Ms Bennett, who will be taking part in the national Love Trains – Hate High Fares demonstrations this Thursday (Feb 14) reminded the nation that the Green Party leads the political campaign to renationalise our railways, and has promised it will bring them back into public ownership when the party is elected.

She said: ‘Privatisation has been disastrous for the rail system. It has failed on every possible criterion. The event this week is a protest about fare increases and I’m delighted to be there in support, as the cost of tickets has increased shockingly. Prices have increased in many cases by more than three times the increase in the cost of living. It’s forcing people off the trains and it must stop, now.’

Since the rail service was privatised in 1993, some rail journeys, including London to Manchester, the cost of which has risen by 208 per cent, London to Exeter (205 per cent) and London to Cardiff (196 per cent) have increased in price by a rate which dwarfs the increase in the overall cost of living, the Retail Price Index, which has gone up just 66 per cent over the same period.

Rail fares in England were famously the most expensive in Europe – in many cases ten times those elsewhere in the EU for journeys of the same distance – even before the Coalition allowed a further increase in January this year, and Ms Bennett called for an end to the failed privatisation experiment.

She said: "Renationalisation is the only way we can bring prices back down and help people get back on the trains. Private companies have proved their priority is profit, not people, and are taking huge profits out of the rail system, at the expense of all of us who use them. Prices are making it impossible for people to use the trains, forcing many to remain at home instead. It stops grandparents from visiting grandchildren and even stops people taking jobs because the cost of travel is so high they can’t afford to work in certain places. Environmentally, it’s vital, too. Rail should always be cheaper than driving, which is terribly damaging to the environment, and under these private firms that’s not the case. Their policies are forcing people onto the roads and we must renationalise to reverse that."

Greens: Our trains are the "most expensive in Europe"

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has given her party’s support for protests today against the further significant rise in rail fares. British rail fares have been hiked for 10 years in succession and our trains are now the most expensive in Europe.

Natalie Bennett said: “Households already struggling with fast-rising rents, food prices and energy costs are going to suffer a new blow. Many households that consider themselves middle class, who only a few years ago were comfortably off, are now struggling, finding themselves able to make ends meet only by extreme economies ranging from skipping meals to unhealthily cutting heating. “Many others have already been priced off the rails – forced into convoluted, long bus journeys or into their cars when they’d rather not be, adding to congestion on our roads and increasing our greenhouse gas emissions.”

Ms Bennett added: “The price rises highlight the sense of renationalising the railways, to save us the £1.2 billion additional costs caused by the fragmentation and profit-taking in the current system, as the Rebuilding Rail report last year showed. “Privatisation has also given us a fragile, unreliable system in which fewer than 70% of trains run on time, i.e. within a minute, the measure used in much of the rest of Europe.”

There were, however, broader issues, Natalie Bennett said. “Britons have the longest commutes in Europe, reflecting the concentration of job opportunities in larger centres, and high house prices, rents and the shortage of social housing. “We need to cut the cost of train travel, but we also need to reduce people’s need to travel. “This is one more reason why we need to look to rebuild strong local economies, promoting small businesses and cooperatives that are growing food, making the goods we need and provide services on a local scale.”

Labour accuse David Cameron of misleading commuters over pledge to cap new year fare increase

The Labour party claim that the Prime Minister David Cameron has failed to honour his eve of party conference promise to limit New Year fare rises to one per cent above inflation, which should have seen fare rises capped at 4.2 per cent. Yet many commuters returning to work will find that their tickets have gone up by as much as 9.2 per cent as a result of the Government’s decision to reverse Labour’s ban on train companies having the ‘flexibility’ to add up to another 5 per cent to some fares. 

Labour has today pledged to force train companies to limit future New Year fare rises to a strict cap set by Ministers and oppose Government plans to close ticket offices and introduce a new ‘super peak’ season ticket. Labour is also warning of additional misery facing rail passengers in 2013 as a result of the Government’s ‘Rail Fares and Ticketing Review’.

Labour say they will oppose any move to make it easier for train companies to close ticket offices and reduce their opening hours, which would making it harder for passengers to get the best deals. Labour also say they will also campaign to prevent the introduction of a new super-peak ticket, which would see some commuters facing even higher annual fare rises to ensure their season ticket remained valid on every train.

Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “David Cameron misled commuters when he promised to cap fare rises at one per cent above inflation. Many commuters have faced a nasty New Year shock as they discover fares have gone up by as much as 9.2 per cent. The Government should come clean with commuters that this is a direct result of their decision to cave in to pressure from the private train companies to let them hike ticket prices beyond the so called cap. The misery for passengers is set to continue in 2013 as the Government’s plans to let train companies close ticket offices and introduce a new super peak ticket become a reality."

"A one-nation economy requires the spiralling cost of getting to work to be brought under control. Labour would strictly enforce the fare cap on every route and restore the ban on train companies imposing higher increases. Labour will oppose any measure that makes it harder for passengers to secure the cheapest ticket deal or forces hard pressed commuters to pay even more just to ensure their season ticket remains valid on every train.”