COMMUTERS travelling in and out of Blackburn will pay up to £60 more a year in rail fares, new figures reveal.

From January, workers travelling between Blackburn and Manchester will see their annual season ticket increase from £1864 to £1,924.

Commuters coming into Blackburn from Colne will pay £46 more with their season ticket cost rising to £1,470

And people travelling in from Clitheroe will fork out £23 with their tickets going up in price from £712 to £735.

Those going between Preston and Blackburn will pay £1,057 – a £33 hike – and the season ticket from Accrington will go up £18 to £594.

The 3.2 per cent increase in January comes as fed-up commuters campaign for changes to Northern Rail’s chaotic services.

Ewood councillor and regeneration deputy for Blackburn with Darwen, Jamie Grove said: “Considering rail companies are in meltdown, it’s outrageous that they’d consider an increase in fares.

“Travelling by rail is already more expensive here than in anywhere else in Europe.

“It is the role of the government to be tougher on rail companies.”

Lancashire Telegraph:

Timetable changes in May plunged Northern Rail’s services into chaos as they cancelled more than 100 trains a day.

The operation and regulation of Britain’s railways now needs be “fundamentally overhauled”, an industry boss has claimed.

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and Network Rail, called for a “new arms-length body” to work with the industry to implement government strategy.

He added: “The benefits of an integrated transport system must be achieved through greater devolution.

“Devolution has worked well in Merseyside, Scotland and London. Why not the North too?"

In 2018, rail fares went up by 3.5%, a higher jump than any other year.