On the first working day of 2008, commuters using railways across the UK have been dealt a double whammy.

Ticket price hikes above the price of inflation mean our post-Christmas budgets are stretched even further.

Then there's the ongoing closure of part of one of Britain's busiest train routes, which is more than doubling journey times for passengers.

Have you been stung by fare increases or suffered misery on the Main Line?

And do you think it's all part and parcel of improving our rail network?

Comments

[dave abertillery Feb 1, 2008 2:49:20 PM]

weather bright and sunnyin abertillery today friday

[Ian, Swindon Jan 18, 2008 11:24:20 PM]

Another year, another price hike...I find it incredulous that those thieving leaches at First Great Western have the audacity to increase fares yet again.

What's more incredulous is that the media failed to jump on the day return increase last Sept from £72 to £92 and a further increase in January.

The next station towards London (Didcot, only 15 min's away on the train but 45 min's by car) was £38 & is now £43.

How the hell does that work?

In some cultures they's have a hand and a foot cut off for that level of theft!

[Sandy Sinclair, Bristol Jan 10, 2008 4:01:04 AM]

My amazment relates to the ability of most train companies to have massive 7 carriage trains running at non peak times, i e half empty and as soon as 5pm strikes a battered "2 carriage special" appears , already packed to the gunnels, and we are in some way expected to feel value for money for this? Are they clinically insane, Give me my car keys any day. Bunch of advantage taking idiots.

[Mark - London Jan 9, 2008 3:23:51 PM]

Its the same old scenario when all said and done.
Forget Government and lefties and all that rubbish.

The rail companies are businesses and they are in it to make money. If they can hike up fares for a lesser service then they will. Lets face it, they almost have a captive audience as the majority cant (or wont) use other methods of getting into work.
Its the same with the council taxes. What can anyone do about it? Other than change jobs, nothing

[Paul, London Jan 9, 2008 11:06:53 AM]

SW Trains had trains with less seats so that more people can stand ! It is all about ££££ of getting more people on the train - ie. Who says we are like cattle ?

[Jackson, London Jan 9, 2008 10:04:26 AM]

I'd be extremely interested to know, when there is a terrible overcrowding problem on the trains do South West trains introduce new style carriages with half the amount of seats than there were before?

[alan jones Jan 8, 2008 8:15:04 PM]

avoid the train if you complain about travelling to work live with in your means on pay not the area you live in and dont waste your life get a job closer to home if with partner enjoy other wise goverment allways win ....less stress ..tryed and tested .....not retired

[James McGrath Jan 7, 2008 11:17:02 PM]

Being from liverpool I think you southerners should consider your glass half full rather the half empty. People up north have two choices when it comes to working in London
1)Take out a whopping mortgage on a cupboard right next to your work - which wipes out your disposable income

2) Take a lower paid job closer to home

Commuting simply isn't an option. If you hate it so much why not take one of my options

[stephen dunn Jan 7, 2008 1:25:47 PM]

Well here we are in 2008 and yes lo and behold the trains are delayed or better still cancelled. After two weeks of signaling work at Glagow Central we were informed this morning on the train that all trains would terminate at Paisley as the Engineering Work was not finished and better still they don't know when it will be finished!! It resulted in over 400 people having to wait on buses and like myself getting a taxi to work. OH and I was only an hour late for work!. It seems to me we are being asked to pay more for a service that is not delivering on its promises!!

regards
annoyed passenger

[Janeash Jan 7, 2008 12:45:58 PM]

What a surprize!!!!Of course the Government are also requesting we stay off the roads in our own cars to avoid congestion, or at best car share, but at the same time the supposedly wonderful public transport is priced out of our reach so what do we do? Best option.. buy yourself a push bike but watch out once the government get wind of that idea they will demand you purchase a cycle license for at least £60 per half year!! and a tax disc that will cleverly sit on your mud guard!!!

[Paul, London Jan 4, 2008 11:01:47 AM]

"Of course we must pay more for a poorer rail service. It's an inevitable result of the Thatcherite privatisation of the railways. Privatised businesses will always put profit before service."

Yes, of course blame Thatcher and the Tories - after all it was only 15 yrs ago the railways were privatised - Have the fares jumped by 10% each yr ? Or only in the past 3/4 yrs ? The trains are cleaner, the staff are more professional and it took the power away from the likes of Bob Crowe and gave it to management - How evil !! - It is wearing a bit thin that Labour supporters and MP's still hark back to how everything wrong with this country is Thatcher and the Tories fault.

So when is Brown going to say what we all think and shame the train operators or remove the contract to run the services ?

[john essex Guildford Jan 4, 2008 8:16:52 AM]

CherylH
Totally agree with you.Station car parking has to be taken into consideration.Prices are extortionate.Most railway stations in Town centres charge whatever they want.

[john essex Guildford Jan 4, 2008 8:13:41 AM]

Of course we must pay more for a poorer rail service. It's an inevitable result of the Thatcherite privatisation of the railways. Privatised businesses will always put profit before service.

Posted by: Mike Primavesi Jan 3, 2008 11:42:06 AM

OH DEAR Another one living in the long and distant past.Stop being blinkered and
get upto date.

[Jenny, London Jan 3, 2008 9:07:29 PM]

Well, it wasn't New Years day but I had quite an ordeal trying to get from the Lake District to London on the 28th even though all of the trains ran to time!

The main problem was that the West Coast mainline wasn't running south of Birmingham so I had to wait an hour in Birmingham before I could get a 2 and a half hour train into Marlyborne. You might have thought they would have dreamt up a quicker solution given the circumstances and the number of people traveling!

9 hours door to door, I think it would have been quicker coming from Tanzania!!!

[Breffni, Geneva, Switzerland Jan 3, 2008 6:59:45 PM]

Isn't it time The British Press stopped sneering and whinging at everything that's European? - The Trains in Switzerland are cheap, ontime and safe, itn't it time the British took a leaf out of their book.

[CherylH Jan 3, 2008 4:25:29 PM]

It's not just the increases in rail fares, but also the increase in station parking that has to be taken into account. Flitwick station in Bedfordshire now charges an extortionate £6.10 per day for parking, and because of the area surrounding the station there is no viable alternative. Add this to the ticket price and you are talking about a significant chunk of salary.

[Robert Stenner Jan 3, 2008 4:00:39 PM]

When will the rail industry that they are pricing there selves out of the market for persons outside the capital. I live in Gloucestershire and often wished I could afford to visit our capital. I read that one passenger is paying over £3000 for a season ticket I work in the care industry for a well known employer, but that season ticket could pay my wages for a quarter of the year.Will I be visiting to watch the Olympics or coming to watch Rugby or Football? Yes if the 6 numbers come up on the Lottery. When will the people who run these trains and entertainments the prices are not in line with what people outside London earn and i should imagine there are a quite a few Londoners who cannt afford these extortionate prices.

[Tammy Milton Keynes Jan 3, 2008 12:39:41 PM]

I have taken a significant ( over £10k) paycut to work locally. This is because I could no longer cope with the dreadful service / cancellations / delays / reductiosns of train lengths. It is disgusting that people are needing to resort to taking alternative employment because the trains. Public transport in the Uk is, and will probably continue to be an absolute disgrace.

[Tino, London Jan 3, 2008 12:24:38 PM]

I was amused/horrified last night to see police with loudhailers on the platform at Stratford station. I was already standing on a packed train to Chelmsford when one of them banged on the window and ordered me to move further down the train. Further down the train to where there was no handrail and nothing to hold on to a s the train jolted us around. It really was chaos last night with the platform screens making little or no sense. This brings me to this morning when one train to Liverpool Street was cancelled to be followed by another with reduced carriages. The scrambled to be first on and grab a seat was pretty scary and it's at times like this when passengers turn on each other rather than the true cuprits - the rail companies. I've only worked in London and faced this commute for 6 months but I've got to say that it's been the most miserable time of my life. I find fellow commuters miserable, unhelpful and rude but given the level of collective misery that's probably to be expected. I renew my monthly travel card on 5 January...I can't wait to see the surprise One Rail has in store for me...NOT!!!!

[Paul, London Jan 3, 2008 11:57:42 AM]

Why doesn't Mr Brown ever comment on these kind of rail rises ?

[Mike Primavesi Jan 3, 2008 11:42:06 AM]

Of course we must pay more for a poorer rail service. It's an inevitable result of the Thatcherite privatisation of the railways. Privatised businesses will always put profit before service.

[Suze Jan 3, 2008 9:17:03 AM]

I've just found out that my annual season ticket fare has risen from £3,520 to £3,740, that's an increase of £220 for an abysmal service this year just so I can get to work to earn a decent wage to one day maybe be able to afford a house. Disgusting!

[Steve, Redhill Jan 3, 2008 9:15:50 AM]

Had an experience last year when trains from London Bridge to South Coast had been delayed or cancelled Monday to Friday. By Friday everyone had had enough! The train was running 45 minutes late and then many of us were all told to get off at Croydon as the train was running late so couldnt stop at the next 4 stations. About 100 people to a man opened the doors and refused to shut them until stations were reinstated. The guard hurled abuse and threatened people. He then called the police and ordered all 100 arrested! The 2 policewomen who responded told him not to be ridiculous and ordered him to reinstate the service which he did after many expletives! The customer is always right eh?

[Gary, Purfleet Essex Jan 2, 2008 8:54:22 PM]

One of the root causes of the ridiculous cost of travelling in London is due in part to the modern day Dick Turpin who doesn't wear a mask (Bob Crowe). Whilst transport unions are responsible for everything except the commuters interests, one of the strangleholds they have is the ability to hold train companies and commuters to ransom by threatening strike action to maintain an overpaid work force. Fortunatley I wasn't delayed too much today (I got to work in 1.5 hrs). This is at an annual cost of £2,400. The cost is bad enough but the fact that we have to put up with such a poor service is criminal! Maybe they should re-introduce capital punishment for Highwaymen.

[Jenny T, London Jan 2, 2008 5:29:20 PM]

To Michael De Niro: We have complained, trust you me, but once you have written tens of complaint letters, argued with every morning train driver and ticket stand assistant and nothing happens even after 12 months of persistent complaining then you can do very little. For some of us train is the only route in to work and we're victims of having to suffer the treatment of First Great Western. It's a shambles, it's disguisting and it's a disgrace to the UK to continuously have the worst public transport system in Europe. I've had trains cancelled 7 days per week, dangerously packed carriers and train drivers who simply don't turn up to their allocated service. But who can blame them - the moral at any train company in the country must be so appalingly low from every day being shown how poor the service is by angry commuters. We complain but sadly nothing happens.