‘2013 will be the year that the fight to re-nationalise the railways goes into overdrive,’ said RMT General Secretary Bob Crow yesterday.
Train fare increases of an average of 3.9 per cent kicked in yesterday, with some passengers facing fare hikes of a massive 10 per cent.
‘As passengers return from the festive break they will be kicked in the teeth with inflation-busting fare increases that will do nothing other than fatten the profits of the greedy train operators,’ said Crow.
A ‘ToffsRUs’ jazz band performed at St Pancras International station in central London yesterday morning.
Dressed in Etonian top hat and tails, the band were supported by placard carrying members of the TSSA (Transport Salaried Staff Association) rail union objecting to old Etonians Cameron and Osborne pushing up regulated fares by 16% since coming to power in 2010.
Leaflets were handed to commuters listing stations in the South East where it now costs more than £5,000 for an annual season ticket to get to work in London.
TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: ‘It is simply morally wrong for a government which has ushered in an age of austerity to penalise working people with these year-on-year inflation busting increases.
‘Philip Hammond thought he was being ironic when he said that rail was now a rich man’s toy but this is what David Cameron is now turning into a harsh reality.
‘Tens of thousands of commuters are now paying more than £5,000 a year for their season ticket just to get to work.
‘That may be a blink of an eye to an old Etonian but it is a real burden to ordinary families who have seen their incomes severely squeezed in the past three years.’
The TSSA called for ‘an end to inflation plus fare rises and the return of the rail network to the public sector’.
Fares have risen three times faster than wages since the capitalist collapse of 2008.
The TUC said yesterday that this huge disparity between fare and wage increases means a family of four (two adults and two children) travelling to London on an anytime ticket from Swansea, Plymouth, Leeds, Manchester or Newcastle in 2013, will have to pay the average weekly wage of £481.
As well as being made to pay more, passengers also face the prospect of ticket office closures and fewer staff on trains and stations.
Train privateers are expected to try to make significant cuts to jobs and have already begun to implement ticket office closures.
Michael Roberts, chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies, has called on the government to scrap the regulations that currently require passengers to be consulted over ticket office opening hours and station closures.
Passenger surveys consistently demonstrate that the travelling public want more staff on trains and at stations and currently over half of the tickets purchased nationally are through face-to-face contact with ticket office or train staff.