More pain for rail passengers could be on the way, with fares set to climb another 5.5% next year – a rise campaigners have branded “outrageous” and a rip-off.
Train ticket increases are usually linked to the July Retail Prices Index (RPI), one of the UK’s main inflation measures, which will be published on Wednesday. This year fares rose by 4.6%, which was one percentage point above July 2024’s inflation figure.
Banking group Investec expects the July 2025 RPI to come in at 4.5%, which could mean fares increase by 5.5% in 2026 if the usual approach is taken.
While the government has not yet said how it will decide regulated fare rises for 2026, campaigners said that much of an increase would be excessive.
Bruce Williamson, spokesman for campaign group Railfuture, told the PA news agency ‘it would be outrageous’ if fares rose by 5.5%.
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He said: ‘What would be the justification for jacking up fares above inflation? There isn’t any.
‘It’s ripping off the customer, driving people off the trains and onto our congested road network, which is in no-one’s interest.’
Williamson said he would support fare freezes to mark the government’s plans to nationalise train operators over the coming years.
He said: ‘One would hope that there would be some efficiency savings and economies of scale that you get from having a more integrated railway.
‘But of course, I strongly suspect that if there are any savings to be had, they’d be swallowed up by the Treasury and not passed back to the passengers, which I think is wrong.’
Ben Plowden, chief executive of lobby group Campaign for Better Transport, said high prices are ‘putting people off rail travel’.
The government is planning to launch Great British Railways next year, a body that will run the county’s rail networks and train companies, as part of plans to eventually nationalise the sector.
Already two regional operators – Southwestern and c2c – have been nationalised under the plans.
About 45% of train fares in the UK are regulated by the government. Those include most commuter season tickets, some off-peak long-distance return tickets and flexible tickets for travelling in big cities.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said it will update rail fare prices later this year, with a spokesperson saying that ‘getting the railways back to a place where people can rely on them’ was a priority.
‘No decisions have been made on next year’s rail fares but our aim is that prices balance affordability for both passengers and taxpayers.’
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