Government cash grab on rail passengers exposed.

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 21st Aug 2007

The cash-grab from new rail franchises being carried on by the Treasury is now meeting influential opposition. Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats protested last year when punitive terms were enforced for new franchises taken up by East of England operators ONE (from Liverpool Street) and First Capital Connect (suburban services from Kings Cross and St Pancras). These meant above-inflation fare rises were guaranteed.

Now similar extortionate terms are being introduced for Inter-City services, as the Cross-Country and GNER franchises are let out. In fact, the previous operators for GNER handed in the franchise early when their parent company hit financial problems and there was no room for manoeuvre for the rail operator, despite being generally regarded as the best in Britain. Now the new terms turn the screw even further, and rises in fares of 15% over the rate of inflation are expected on GNER and a massive 30% over inflation on Cross-Country.

'The Office of the Rail Regulator has stepped in to question whether it is fair on passengers to have to pay such high fares. This is unprecedented' says Hertfordshire's Liberal Democrat spokesperson on transport, Malcolm Cowan, who first raised the issue last year. 'It shows how widely Labour's stealth tax on passengers is now being seen. We think it is a crazy policy to continue to force fares higher when in all these cases, there is no subsidy to fares at all - passengers are already paying surplus over to help fill the government's coffers.

'Instead the government should be dismantling the structures that makes the railway so much more expensive to run than before privatisation - the monopoly and resulting high charges by the rolling stock owners for example.

'It all makes a complete mockery of the government's claimed preference for use of public transport, and makes a switch to less carbon-producing forms of transport even harder to achieve' he concluded.

For further information, contact Malcolm Cowan on 01707-324723.