The Guardian - 15.08.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:13 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 19:15 cYanmaGentaYellowb

Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •

National^13

Call for fairer rail pricing formula as

RPI pushes ticket costs up by 2.8%

Gwyn Topham
Transport correspondent

Rail fares will rise by 2.8% in January,
it has been confi rmed, prompting cam-
paigners to demand a fairer formula for
increases after warnings that passen-
gers were being priced off the railway.
The latest increase, set by the July
retail prices index infl ation fi gure
published by the Offi ce for National
Statistics yesterday morning, will add
more than £100 to many annual sea-
son tickets.
Labour said that the average com-
muter would now be paying more than
£3,000 for their season ticket, about
40% more than in 2010.
The overall cost of train travel has
gone up by 46% since 2009, while
wages have only grown by 23%,
according to a Trades Union Congress
analysis of ONS fi gures.
Campaigners called for an overhaul
of fares policy, as the more commonly
used measure of infl ation, the con-
sumer prices index (CPI), was only

2.1%. The independent watchdog,

Transport Focus, said a “fairer, clearer

fares formula based on CPI, rather than

the discredited RPI” was needed.

David Side bottom of Transport Focus

said: “After a year of more stable – but

still patchy – rail performance, many

rail passengers will be mystifi ed that

rail fares should be going up at all, let

alone by 2.8% next January.”

The previous transport secretary,

Chris Grayling, had discussed aban-

doning the RPI measure of infl ation

and raising fares in line with CPI.

Darren Shirley, the chief executive

of the Campaign for Better Trans-

port , said: “Passengers already pay

thousands of pounds to endure over-

crowding, delays and cancellations.

It’s time to stop the rhetoric on fare

increases. The government should

commit to January’s fares rise being

linked to CPI.”

Sidebottom said that the national

passenger survey showed that less

than a third of rail commuters were

satisfi ed with the value for money of

their ticket.

Labour said passengers were “pay-

ing more for less” and promised to take

the railway back into state ownership

as franchises expired.

Andy McDonald, the shadow trans-

port secretary , said: “The government

has sat back and allowed private train

companies to cash in while people’s

pay has been held back. Continuous

fare rises undermine urgent action to

tackle the climate emergency by pric-

ing people off the railways.”

The government defended the

planned increase as necessary for

future investment. The rail minis-

ter, Chris Heaton-Harris , said it was

“tempting to suggest” that fares

should be frozen, but added: “If we

stop investing in our railway then we

will never see it improved.”

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG),

which represents private train oper-

ators and Network Rail, said 98p in

every £1 taken in fares was put back

into running the railway. Robert Nis-

bet, an RDG director, said the rise

meant that the “government is ensur-

ing that money from fares continues

to cover almost all of the day-to-day

costs of running rail services”.

The number of journeys made by

commuters using season tickets has

dropped by 12.5% in three years, from

712 m in 2015-16 to 625 m this year.

The 2.8% fi gure will be the max-

imum rise to regulated fares, which

account for about half of all rail jour-

neys, including season tickets on

most commuter routes, off-peak

returns on long-distance trains and

anytime tickets around major cities.

A season ticket between Birmingham

and London Euston is projected to

cost £11,205 from January – a rise of

£3,188 since 2010.

News of the increase comes after a

year in which the structure and func-

tioning of the railways has been called

into question. Major commuter routes

have largely recovered from the chaos

of the 2018 summer timetable change,

when there were thousands of can-

cellations and the railway recorded

its worst punctuality performance

in 18 years, but other problems have

persisted.

Campaigners and unions staged

protests against the fare increases

yesterday at stations around Britain.

FirstGroup

to take over

west coast

line despite

shareholder

opposition

Gwyn Topham
Transport correspondent

FirstGroup has won the franchise to
run InterCity West Coast trains, despite
opposition from its own shareholders,
fears over the fi nancial viability of its
other rail operations and legal action
by rival bidders.
The government announced that
First, the majority partner in a joint
venture with the Italian state operator
Trenitalia, will take over intercity ser-
vices on the London-Glasgow line from
December. The line, which serves cit-
ies including Birmingham, Manchester
and Liverpool, has been run since pri-
vatisation by Virgin Trains.
The First-Trenitalia bid was chosen
over a Chinese consortium led by the
Hong Kong operator MTR, First’s part-
ner on South Western Railway.
Trenitalia has been named “shadow
operator” for HS2, responsible for new
services – depend ent on the outcome
of reviews into the construction of the
high-speed network and the shape of
the entire rail industry.
First-Trenitalia will pay £1.6bn
in premiums to run the west coast

services – Britain’s most lucrative line

• from this December until 2026, with
  a second phase of payments to depend
  on HS2. The contract could run until
  2034 with an extension.
  Keith Williams, who is leading the
  government’s rail review and has
  already said that franchising must
  change, endorsed the West Coast
  Partnership contract as “ capable of
  incorporating the reforms needed for
  the future ”.
  Grant Shapps, the transport secre-
  tary, said the contract was “a decisive
  shift towards a new model for rail ...
  built with the fl exibility to respond
  to [Williams’] recommendations
  and deliver fundamental reform to a
  fl awed system ”.

The Department for Transport

pressed ahead with the award despite

a high court case brought by Stage-

coach , Sir Richard Branson’s partner

in Virgin Trains. Branson said he was

“devastated” by the decision.

Stagecoach was disqualifi ed for a

noncompliant bid, refusing to accept

pension liabilities, but is seeking to

have the decision overturned – a

legal action that recalls the fi asco in

2012 when the west coast contract

was awarded to FirstGroup but then

withdrawn after Virgin’s complaints.

Stagecoach said the award of the fran-

chise would not have an impact on its

continuing litigation against the DfT.

First’s biggest shareholder, Coast

Capital, has threatened to sue the

First board if it took on a ny more rail

contracts. James Rasteh, partner at

Coast, said earlier this year it would

“hold each member of management

team and board member personally

and fully accountable if the company

enters any new rail franchise ”.

The previous rail franchise compe-

titions won by First – Trans Pennine

and South Western – have proved

costly. First wrote down the value of

its TransPennine franchise by £106m

last year and last month followed up

with an “onerous contract provision”

of £102m for South Western.

This year, First suggested it could

turn its back on UK rail after the expiry

of its current contracts, which also

include Great Western Railway and

the small, open access Hull Trains.

First said yesterday its board “ unan-

imously concluded that signing the

partnership agreement is in the best

interests of all shareholders ”.

Labour queried the award, given the

scale of First’s debts and recent losses ,

and coming after the cancellation of

the South Eastern franchise competi-

tion. The shadow transport secretary,

Andy McDonald, said that awarding

First such a complex contract was “a

gross error of judg ment”.

The contract will involve handling

the fi rst HS2 services from 2026 until

2031, should the project survive

budget challenges. High-speed trains

are planned to run north on the exist-

ing mainline after the fi rst phase of the

high-speed network opens between

London and Birmingham.

All bidders had to demonstrate

experience of running high-speed rail

services, a rule that led to First ’s tie-

up with Trenitalia, which runs TGVs

in Italy.

New fares

Typical increases

A selection of new season ticket

prices and this year’s increase

Woking to London:

£3,442 – up by £

Ludlow to Hereford:

£2,344 – up by £

Brighton to London (any route):

£4,980 – up by £

Liverpool to Manchester (any route):

£3,277 – up by £

Whitehaven to Carlisle:

£2,035 – up by £

Gloucester to Birmingham:

£4,357 – up by £

Bangor to Llandudno:

£1,336 – up by £

Stonehaven to Aberdeen:

£1,427 – up by £

Weston-super-Mare to Bristol:

£2,056 – up by £

Edinburgh to Glasgow (any route):

£4,198 – up by £

 Passengers at Manchester

Piccadilly, to be served by intercity

trains run by the new partnership

PHOTOGRAPH: CHRISTOPHER THOMOND/GUARDIAN

‘[This is] a decisive

shift towards a new

model for rail ... built

to deliver reform

to a fl awed system’

Grant Shapps

Transport

secretary

12.5%

Fall in the number of journeys

made by commuters using season

tickets over the last three years

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