Rail fares rise amid a flurry of service disruptions

Millions of rail travellers are set to be hit by another hike in regulated fares, which include season tickets, which are increasing by an average of 4.2%, with the overall average rise for all tickets being 3.9%. 

The rise is particularly painful to Devon's rail travellers, who have recently faced service disruptions due to floods, signal failures and, on some routes, staff shortages. And last week, commuters who did manage to travel by rail were subject to serious overcrowding on some trains due to over-running engineering work.

The TUC has said that fares have risen far faster than wages since the recession in 2008. Train companies can put some season tickets up by more than 4.2% as long as the overall average does not exceed 4.2%.

Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said: "David Cameron misled commuters when he promised to cap fare rises at 1% above inflation. The Government should come clean with commuters that this is a direct result of their decision to cave in to pressure from the private train companies to let them hike ticket prices beyond the so-called cap."