Privatised UK train fares rise three times faster than cost of living.

By Dick Murray 4th February 2013.    Find Full Article Here:-

Train fares on some of the busiest routes have risen up to three times faster than the cost of living since privatisation, figures reveal today.

A Top 10 chart of the most expensive city journeys shows the soaring cost of rail travel since John Major’s Conservative government voted to sell off the national network in 1993.

A walk-on single ticket to and from London to Manchester has risen by 208  per cent to £154, to Exeter by 205  per cent to £114.50 and to Cardiff 196 per cent to £103.50. During the same 20-year period the Retail Price Index has increased by 66 per cent.

John MacGregor, the then transport secretary, told MPs in 1993: “I see no reason why fares should increase faster under the new (private) system. In many cases, they will be flexible and will be reduced.”

The chart was produced by Barry Doe, one of the UK’s leading analysts on rail fares, for the TSSA transport union whose members include ticket office staff. Average rail fares have increased overall by 102.8 per cent since 1995, the year after British Rail was sold to Railtrack — later taken over by Network Rail, a not-for-profit publicly funded private company.