Train tickets are due to rise again by 1.6% in January 2021 despite a slump in passenger demand during the Covid pandemic.

Research from the Labour Party has shown that the average cost of a rail season ticket has risen by an average of 42% since 2010 – two and a half times faster than the wage growth over the same period.

The research also found that season tickets on some key commuting routes between South Wales and the West of England had risen by as much as 44% – or around £1000 – since 2010.

Rail users in Newport East have had enough of paying more and more for their train tickets – the increase in fares over the last decade has been absolutely eyewatering. The fact that prices are set to be ratcheted up again, after an incredibly difficult year for passengers, is a real blow to commuters – including large numbers in my constituency who travel to work from Newport, Severn Tunnel Junction or Caldicot to Bristol or Cardiff; or from the Severnside stations to Newport. It’s time for UK Government ministers to get a grip on the situation if we are to avoid the 2020s – like the 2010s – becoming a decade of sky-high fares for passengers.

Jim McMahon MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary said: “Decisions taken by Government Ministers are making rail travel unaffordable and discouraging people back on to the network which will be vital for getting the rail sector on a stable footing. The truth is that our fragmented, privatised railway drives up costs and leaves passengers paying more for less. Labour has long argued that public ownership of the rail network will provide better value for the taxpayer and for passengers, the Government must stop paying the profit of the private rail companies and bring the network in-house.”

Read more on Wales Online here.