Commuter rail fares cost more than a mortgage

Thousands of long-distance commuters are having to pay more for their season tickets than their mortgage.

Research published today shows wor-kers on packed rush-hour trains now need to put aside up to a third of take-home pay - compared with an average 28 per cent for the mortgage bill.

Season ticket prices have soared in recent years as the Government seeks to force passengers to contribute more towards the cost of the railways.

Longer-distance routes are worst hit. But even workers from commuter-belt towns and cities closer to London such as Oxford, Colchester and Southend will have to devote at least a fifth of take-home pay to their season tickets by 2012, according to the analysis.

Passenger groups fear commuters will have to take to the roads or give up their jobs. Fare rises, which inflation-linked, were an average six per cent this year but are set to rise a eight per cent more - almost four times faster than wages - next January. The findings, from the Campaign for Better Transport, were condemned by RMT boss Bob Crow. He said they were "the most graphic illustration yet of how the Government is conspiring with the train operating companies to bleed passengers dry".

For commuters from Swindon to Paddington, a £7,024 annual season ticket is 34.9 per cent of the £20,149 national average take-home pay. This will rise to 36.9 per cent next year. In 2012, a Norwich-London season ticket will be worth 34.3 per cent of average pay; and one from Bournemouth to the capital will amount to 28.5 per cent.

The Campaign for Better Transport said it was did the research after getting a letter from a commuter saying: "My train fare is now more than my mortgage. I have absolutely no money left for food, clothes, necessities of life."

The Department for Transport said: "The projected fare rises are pure speculation as no future fares have been set yet."