Rail fares to rise 1.9% as passengers face delays and overcrowding

With the rail network creaking under the combined effect of delays, cancellations and strikes, travellers are angry that rail fares are to rise by nearly 2 per cent.

Rail fares will increase by 1.9 per cent from the start of next year. The hike, which affects regulated fares, is linked to today's announcement of July's retail price index (RPI) inflation measure.

"The prospect of another rise will prompt a backlash from hundreds of thousands of furious passengers," predicts the Daily Mail, "who have endured delays and cancellations and are increasingly forced to stand on packed trains."

The timing is likely to anger passengers "who have suffered overcrowded trains and disruption", says The Telegraph, noting that this will in fact be one of the lowest annual increases since railways were privatised. To coincide with today's rise, the TUC has published a report showing that fares have gone up by 25 per cent since 2010, while average weekly earnings have grown by just 12 per cent.

"The rise is three times the official rate of inflation," states The Sun, pointing out that the government's official inflation rate, the consumer price index (CPI), stands at a much lower 0.6 per cent. The Guardian quotes data compiled by the campaign group Railfuture, showing that rail fares would be almost 10 per cent lower had the price rises imposed by the government since 2005 been based on the CPI rather than the RPI.

And what of long-suffering Southern rail commuters? The Daily Mail says campaigners want the government to sever the RPI link completely for passengers on Southern following months of upheaval caused by "the biggest wave of industrial action on the railways for 30 years".

But next year's increase will affect commuters nationwide. The Essex-based Echo quotes Peter Slattery, a Southend rail travellers' spokesman, who says it means a "large chunk" of people's wages are now spent getting to work. In the Yorkshire Evening Post, Chris Hyomes of Railfuture warns that "it will reach the point where people will give up using the train" and travel by car, which "does nothing for the environment".

Around half of rail fares are regulated, including season tickets on most commuter journeys, some off-peak return tickets on long-distance trips, and Anytime tickets around major cities.