RAIL passengers on cross-border operators such as East Coast, Virgin Trains, CrossCountry and Transpennine Express could face extra fare hikes next January because of the squeeze on UK Government finances, Transport secretary Justine Greening has warned.
She said it may prove difficult to stave off the originally-planned ticket price rise of three per cent above RPI inflation for another year.
Ministers shelved plans for the higher increase this year, pegging the hike to the previous one per cent above inflation level.
Ms Greening admitted: “There is no money tree out there that I can draw on.
“It (the annual rise) is something that I would like to see come down, but I also know that we have to get some financial stability back into the rail industry.”
The threatened change does not affect ScotRail - Scotland’s main train operator - with Scottish ministers pledging to maintain the current one per cent above inflation formula.
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