Calderdale commuters steaming over increasing rail fares

The rail industry has announced that the increase in price will commence on January 2 2020.

On average, commuters will pay an additional 2.7 per cent for their travel, meaning that some long distance commuters could be forking out an additional £100 in 2020.

Ben Mullen, 39, from Halifax said: "The service is a total disgrace. I travel every week across the country and every longer journey has some sort of delay. I've had delays of up to five and a half hours.

"You're paying for a service where you get crammed in and can't get a seat. All in all it is an absolute travesty."

Halifax resident Colin Wood, 62, said :" It's disgusting, especially with how the trains are running at the moment. They are late all the time, it's unbelievable.

"I was coming home from Bradford yesterday and it was over three quarters of an hour late. These new trains that they've got are constantly breaking down, the whole service could be a lot better."

According to Network Rail data, only 65 per cent of trains arrived at their scheduled station stops within one minute of the timetable in the past 12 months.

Commuter and Mytholmoroyd resident Tracy Hunt, 52 said: "I think it's the train company putting profits above any sort of customer satisfaction. The trains have been absolutely appalling. They're hugely overcrowded to a dangerous extent.

"They've just told us that they're going to cancel my usual train, the 7:47 from Mytholmroyd. They're just isolating people in smaller communities."

Fewer than half of passengers are satisfied with the value for money of train tickets, according to the latest survey by watchdog Transport Focus.

Ed Smith, 29, said: "I can see that prices need to go up because of investment, inflation and the fact that we live in difficult times, .But I would like to see something in return for that extra cost, like a more reliable service. I don't think the improvements they're making is proportionate to the increase in cost.

"I'm lucky to have an annual pass and that my employer gives me a loan so that I can afford to do that. For people that have to pay week by week or monthly, it is a lot more expensive. They don't get the value for money, we should all be paying the same thing and it should be the lowest possible price."

Paul Plummer, chief of industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said: “We understand no-one wants to pay more to travel, which is why train companies have for the third year in a row held the average fare increases below inflation while still investing to improve journeys.”