Labour

Fare rises of 8 per cent above inflation confirmed in West Coast Franchise tender documents – Maria Eagle

Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, responding to today’s publication of the Invitation to Tender for the West Coast Main Line rail franchise, said:

“The tender documents for the West Coast rail franchise reveal that passengers are facing fare rises of eight per cent above inflation in 2013 and 2014 adding to the cost of living crisis facing households. This is despite the Government's New Year spin that these rises were under review.

“We now know that companies bidding for the right to run train services on this lucrative route have been reassured by ministers that they will be able to add another five per cent a year onto fares, on top of the three per cent above inflation increase imposed by the government. This failure to stand up to the private train companies shows yet again that this is a Government completely unwilling to take on irresponsible capitalism and put passengers before profits.

“The Government has been claiming that it would be too costly to renegotiate existing franchises to remove this power from train companies, despite Labour managing to do so in Government. Having given the power back to the train companies after the election, Ministers must now explain why they are not willing to use the issuing of new contracts to force train companies to stick to the cap on fare rises set by Government.”