Government intends to revert to intended RPI plus 3% formula for 2013 and 2014, document shows
Rail passengers will face further fare rises of up to 8% above inflation over each of the next two years, a government document has confirmed.
While a public outcry led George Osborne to cap this year's rise to 6%, the coalition intends to revert to its intended RPI plus 3% for 2013 and 2014, with some fares liable to rise by an extra 5%.
At current inflation rates, that means some train fares could cost almost one third more in two years than they did last month.
The policy is set out in the Department for Transport's invitation to tender for the west coast mainline franchise, the service currently run between stations in London and Glasgow by Virgin Trains.
Four bidders have been shortlisted to run the franchise from December 2012, when Virgin's present contract expires, including two owned by the French and Dutch national railways, Keolis/SNCF and Abellio, as well as First Group and Virgin.
The winning bidder, to be announced in August, will run the trains until 2026 – the year that the first stage of the HS2 high-speed rail line between Birmingham and London is scheduled to open.
The rail minister, Theresa Villiers, said the new framework would include stipulation for longer trains and more flexible services. The 31 existing Pendolino trains will be extended from nine to 11 carriages, adding nearly 50% more standard seats on each train.
She said: "Passengers will welcome the 28,000 additional seats this new franchise will deliver every day on what is becoming one of the UK's busiest rail lines.
"A longer, more flexible franchise will encourage private sector investment, for example in improving stations. It will also promote greater efficiency to enable improvements to be made whilst driving down costs."
Bidders are expected to propose "efficiencies" – a word some in the industry fear indicates that the government will be looking for operators to shed staff and services.
The Department of Transport said that while operators would have scope to change timetables, there would be no cost-cutting at the expense of existing train services.
Fares will continue to rise at 1% above inflation after 2014. Richard Hebditch, the campaigns director of the Campaign for Better Transport, said that while confirmation of RPI plus 3% was not unexpected, it was also worrying that the government was setting out terms for inflation-busting fare rises for a 15-year franchise.
"That's not tenable given that train fares are rising far more than wages as well as inflation – it's not affordable for those on average incomes, let alone low incomes," he said. "It will start to impact on firms' ability to hire the best people because they will simply be priced out of commuting."
Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT, said the fare rises would "bleed the travelling public dry".
"The west coast tender documents make it clear that this government intends to crash on with its policy of making the railways a rich man's toy, allowing the bidders for the gold-plated franchise to alter timetables and reduce capacity to maximise profits."
The Department of Transport said it was "committed to the goal of ending the era of above-inflation fare increases" over the long term.