Faster trains from Midlands to London could cost one traveller dear

Weston-under-Wetherley resident Gordon MacDonald used to travel to London for meetings two or three times a week, taking the first off-peak train of the day at 8.41am for a £33 return.

But now Chiltern Railways has taken 27mins off the journey with its new Mainline service, launched on Sunday, the equivalent 8.39am train costs him £75, and a slightly later train costs £50 - more than half as much.

For Mr MacDonald, who moved out of London because of the cost of living, the increase is too much.

He said: “This is truly scandalous. How are they allowed to increase their pricing by so much?

“The whole reason people liked that line is that it was value for money. If customers had known this would be the cost of cutting journey times then they would have wholeheartedly rejected it.

“In this current climate businesses will not be able to afford increases of more than 50 per cent. Chiltern Railways’ mission statement is to offer value for money and they are certainly not doing it.”

Work for the Mainline service has taken almost two years and includes almost 55 miles of new track, enabling trains to travel at up to 100mph. Stations have more car parking and trains have free Wi-Fi, a business zone as an alternative to first class, and better catering.

A spokeswoman defended the new fares, saying the service had been designed in response to passengers asking for simpler fares, with flat rates of £25, £50 and £75 to London Marylebone from Midland stations.

She admitted some fares had been increased, but said more passengers leaving Warwick Parkway would pay less than pay more, as the cheapest £25 fare now arrived at London Marylebone 90mins earlier at 11.30am. And she said while Mr MacDonald was among a small number of people travelling in a 90 minute window when prices have gone up there is a 4.5 hour window when prices have gone down.

The spokeswoman added that the company had announced the fare increases several weeks ago, and had displayed leaflets explaining the new rates at all stations for the past week.

She said: “The aim has been to improve the simplicity of the fare structure and remove the huge changes in price, in which previously adjacent trains were priced at £85 and £33 – now it is £75 and £50. It is not possible to do this without making some increases.”