You need to be targeting other people, chancellor

Simon Calder explains why the long-overdue rail fare freeze is not necessarily good news for Britain's train passengers

- Simon Calder

The public believes rail fares constantly rise. That is hardly surprising: in the average year we are told not once but three times that tickets are about to cost more. Every year for decades I have diligently reported on each stage in this trifecta of misery.

In mid-August, the retail price index (RPI) for July is revealed. For reasons lost in the mists of history, successive governments use this arbitrary figure for a summer basket of goods to calibrate how much more you and I should pay for rail travel for the following year.

Over the decades since privatisation, the increase has been in line with RPI, sometimes plus or minus one per cent. Armed with the figure, calculating the increased cost of commuting from Leeds to Manchester, Swansea to Cardiff or Woking to Waterloo is a breeze. The usual suspects - the shadow transport secretary, trades unions and passenger groups - are readily on hand to deplore the potential rise.

Come late November, actual ticket prices are revealed for the benefit of travellers planning trips in the new year. I always check the anytime one-way fares from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly (currently £193) and from Didcot Parkway to Swindon - a boggling £2.20 per minute, making it the most expensive main line train trip in Britain.