Campaigners angry as London Midland announces peak-time fare rises

Nov 21 2009 by Patrice John, Birmingham Mail

TRAIN passengers in Birmingham are set to be hit with further price rises in the New Year.

Rail company London Midland, which was recently reprimanded by the Government for poor service, is set to charge more for those wanting to travel during the afternoon rush hour, between 4.35pm and 6pm.

This means fares could rise from an average of £2 to £3.40 on some routes across the city.

Transport campaigners claimed the move is pricing people out of the railways and Kevin Chapman from the Campaign for Better Transport said: “Passengers are already dissatisfied with the way London Midland handles disruption and they were recently fined by the Department for Transport, so it’s surprising that they’ve decided to do this.

“There is a general feeling that the service they offer lacks quality and it’s wrong to charge people even more money for travelling.

“London Midland has had its fair share of problems and passengers have suffered as a result,” he claimed.

“This is not the way to attract more people to the railways and I believe the train companies are doing this at a bad time.”

Earlier this month, the DfT ordered London Midland to provide thousands of cut-price tickets and to spend £4.4 million on new information services to compensate passengers for a series of train cancellations on Sundays in September.

London Midland Railways, which runs services from London to Birmingham, was told it broke the franchise agreement it signed in 2007. The company run trains to London Euston, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, Birmingham Moor Street, Birmingham Snow Hill, the Jewellery Quarter and Five Ways.

A London Midland spokesman said: “Evening peak restrictions will be applied for passengers using Off-Peak day tickets (Cheap Day singles and returns, or Off-Peak Saver singles and returns) from 2 January 2010 on services departing between 4.35pm and 6pm, inclusive.

“These restrictions apply to journeys to and from Birmingham New Street, Birmingham Moor Street, Birmingham Snow Hill, Jewellery Quarter and Five Ways (that is, stations in Network West Midlands Zone 1).

“No changes to morning peak restrictions have been made,” added the spokesman.