Southend West’s Conservative MP Sir David Amess says rail fares should always be based on the quality of service that is provided by a franchise.


Sir David, who was speaking after a another hike in rail fares was mooted, said: “Increases in rail fares must always be fair and based on quality of service. 


“Commuters pay quite enough already for their travel therefore I shall write to the owners of C2C and Greater Anglia immediately to find out the veracity of this report.”


The report was produced by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union.
The RMT published their prediction that fares will rise in line with inflation from next month.


They also claim that European owners of train services are “robbing” passengers in the UK to hold down their domestic prices.


The study found that passengers in the UK travelling on the Italian-owned C2C trains are paying 2.4 times more than their Italian counterparts using a similar service.


Arriva North passengers are paying a third more than their counterparts on similar services run by the same operator in Germany.


And passengers in the UK travelling on Dutch owned Greater Anglia railways are paying twice as much as their Dutch counterparts using a similar service.


Peter Slattery, member of the Southend Rail Travellers’ Association, dismissed the report and labelled it as “scaremongering”.


Mr Slattery said: “There is always an annual rise in August so it’s just the same as every other year.


“Everyone obviously wants better pricing but we also need to get to work.”


Mr Slattery went on to say that supposedly cheaper fares in other countries is irrelevant.


He added: “I wouldn’t look too much into that, it’s a different country.”


RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “It is a national scandal that this Government is perpetuating this by allowing more foreign state-owned outfits to bid for British rail services, while simultaneously blocking any British public ownership of our railways.


“We should be proud of successful British-based transport businesses which are succeeding overseas and be welcoming overseas companies who want to learn from our railway while helping us improve.


“But UK rail passengers should be bracing themselves.”