To coincide with the 3.2% train fares hike this morning, local Labour figures Luke Pollard MP and parliamentary candidate Charlotte Holloway highlight huge train fare increases since the Conservatives came to power.

Season ticket holders from Plymouth to Exeter and Plymouth to Newton Abbot are facing 35% fare increases since 2010, shows new analysis.

New figures released today by Labour show that average fares across the country have risen nearly three times faster than wages.

Today, local Labour figures Luke Pollard MP, Labour and Co-operative MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, and Charlotte Holloway, Labour and Co-operative Candidate for Plymouth Moor View are participating in a national Rail Action Day, with events across the country on the day that rail fare increases hit rail passengers. They will be outside Plymouth train station talking to passengers about their experiences of rail costs and travel along the fragile Dawlish line.

Luke Pollard MP, Labour and Co-operative MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said:

“This latest rail price hike risks pricing people out of using trains. Open tickets between Plymouth and London, Birmingham or Manchester now costs hundreds of pounds. Travelling by train should be affordable but it’s not. We don’t even have a decent trainline with closures and cancellations commonplace in the winter. People don’t mind paying more if services improve but that isn’t the case. It doesn’t have to be like this.” 

Charlotte Holloway, Labour and Co-operative Parliamentary Candidate for Plymouth Moor View, said:

“Today’s fare increases are beyond a joke. Plymouth Passengers are paying more and more to travel on a fragile line that regularly goes down. We’ve ensured years of chaos on our railways under this Conservative Government, and people are properly fed up.”

“Labour will bring our railways back into public ownership so they are run in the interests of passengers.”

The amount by which train companies can raise regulated fares is the responsibility of the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling. He has the power to enforce this but he’s choosing not to. Labour has committed to keeping fares down and pegged to no more than a rise of CPI. In 2017, Labour pledged to fund a massive £2.5 billion programme of railway upgrades for the South West which included electrification, improvements at Dawlish, new diversionary route and more.

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