HEREFORDSHIRE rail passengers face what one campaigner described as "another decade of misery" as fare increases are announced today (Thursday).

West Midland Trains tickets will cost 2.8 per cent more and Great Western Railway 2.7 per cent more.

As an example, a 12-month Ludlow to Hereford season ticket which would have cost £2,280 now costs £2,340 – an increase of £60. The company that runs the service, Transport for Wales, is however reducing the price of its range of tickets by an average of 1.1 per cent.

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Nationally, some long-distance commuters saw the annual cost of getting to work increase by more than £100 today, despite fewer than two-thirds of trains being on time last year.

Fewer than half (47 per cent) of passengers are satisfied with the value for money of train tickets, according to the latest survey by watchdog Transport Focus.

Bruce Williamson, of pressure group Railfuture, claimed fares are "outstripping people's incomes".

He said: "Welcome to another decade of misery for rail passengers.

"How on earth is the Government going to meet its climate commitments by pricing people off environmentally-friendly trains and on to our polluted and congested roads?"

Network Rail data shows only 65 per cent of trains arrived at their scheduled station stops within one minute of the timetable in the 12 months to December 7.

South Western Railway passengers suffered from strike action throughout December, while there was major disruption to Northern, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains services during much of 2019.

Among the routes where the price of annual season tickets has increased by a three-figure sum are:

  • Reading to London (up £132 to £4,736)
  • Gloucester to Birmingham (up £118 to £4,356)
  • Glasgow to Edinburgh via any permitted route (up £116 to £4,200)

Robert Nisbet, director of nations and regions for industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said: "We know that no one wants to pay more to travel, and rail companies have, for the third year in a row, held average fare increases below inflation while continuing to deliver investment in new trains and extra services that will improve journeys for customers.

"In 2020, we will work together to run 1,000 extra services a week and roll out 1,000 more train carriages as we replace half the country's train carriages.

"We will also continue to push for changes to regulations that would make rail fares match how people work today and tackle crowding on the busiest long-distance routes."