MPs in rail fare appeal

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), May 19, 2009

IT is 'unacceptable' that low rail fares are mainly found on the internet, a report by MPs has said.

A Government promise to bring 1,300 new carriages into service by 2014 looks 'over-optimistic,' the report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee added.

There is a risk that some train companies could fail as their revenues fall, but the Government should hold companies to their financial commitments, the committee said.

It added that the Department for Transport (DfT) "did not consider the damaging side-effects for passengers" from its rail franchising policy.

The MPs said the department set requirements for service frequency and punctuality but not for measuring the impact of rising car parking charges, complex fares and overcrowding.

The report said: "It is unacceptable that low-cost fares, which should be available to all rail passengers, are most readily found by those with access to the internet.

"This approach undermines the whole basis of the railways as a public service available to all. It excludes those people without access to the internet, without the time to search or who decide to travel at short notice." "There is no reason why the department (DfT) should favour a system which supports such perverse and unwarranted exclusion." The report went on: "The department promises of bringing 1,300 new rail carriages into service by 2014 look over-optimistic.

There are only 423 on order so far.",