TWO rail companies which serve York have been singled out as among the worst when it comes to the inflation of their standard walk-on rail fares over the past decade.

A first-class single ticket with Virgin, which operates between York and Birmingham, has increased by 120 per cent since June 1995. Standard single fares have shot up by 80 per cent.

York-based GNER, which operates the Edinburgh to London route, has seen its first class single ticket jump 60 per cent in ten years, while its standard single has gone up by 48 per cent.

Both companies vigorously defend their record on prices.

The statistics were prepared by Barry Doe, an influential rail fares consultant, who blames the wide variation of inflation - from five per cent for single tickets on c2c trains to Virgin's 120 per cent - on the Government's capping on saver tickets.

He said: "Capping savers (at 25 per cent inflation) led to the virtual abolition of SuperSavers.

"Only First Great Western retains them into London now, and hence the East Coast, Midland and West Coast arteries have seen between 50 per cent and 65 per cent rises for all leisure travellers who used the cheap tickets in 1995."

Cheap day returns were charged at about 15p per mile, but were limited to off-peak travel because they were so cheap. "Yet morning commuter trains are packed with long-distance commuters paying under ten pence per mile." said Mr Doe.

"I am all for subsidies to keep people off the roads, but the need is to reduce full fares which deter all but expense account holders, not subsidise those who commute by choice."

GNER spokesman John Gelson said that fare levels had not prevented record-breaking passenger growth on the East Coast route from York.

He said: "A tenth of all GNER passengers in 2004 travelled on tickets that were cheaper in real terms than the lowest fares available under British Rail, almost a decade ago. People are also becoming much more aware of the offers available, and these are attracting double-digit growth in passenger numbers."

In the last year, GNER had pioneered a new automated airlines-style revenue management system. "If demand for seats on any train is low, the system will automatically release more low-cost tickets to fill the available capacity," said Mr Gelson.

"In 2004, more than 1.5 million people travelled on our First and Standard Class Off-Peak discounted fares."

A Virgin spokesman said: "Some of our prices are cheaper now than they were in 1994. Then the cheapest between London and Manchester was £26. Today it is £24 on a book-in-advance ticket."

Updated: 10:46 Tuesday, February 08, 2005