Government forces economic reality on train companies

Following my recent report on the government forcing South West Trains to keep Barnes ticket office open pretty much on current opening times, the news that train companies have been denied their request for further inflation-busting ticket incresaes is also good news for commuters.

Train companies have been allowed to increase fares above inflation for years, partly to get investment back into the rail network after years of undefunding. But with inflation approaching zero, all of a sudden the train operators have decided they want a new formula that gives them increases unlinked to inflation.

That would have meant that while workers struggle with pay freezes or even cuts, travel costs would have continued to escalate. I'm therefore really pleased the government gave short shrift to these greedy and unaffordable dreams by the companies.

It means that if the inflation-measuring Retail Price Index (RPI) is negative - prices are actually falling in the real world - in July (the month ticket price changes are calculated for the following January), then in 2010 ticket prices too will become cheaper.

"About time too" many of us will say. Just as bonuses for senior bankers who have done immeasurable damage to our financial system are an outrage, so too are ever-rising fare prices coupled with ever-poorer services for commuters.