COLCHESTER commuters are facing the biggest train fare price hike in five years.

The total cost of an adult annual ticket from Colchester Town station to London Liverpool Street will go up from £4,928 in 2017 to £5,095 in 2018.

Despite Greater Anglia working as a privatised company, around half of fares are regulated and set by Government.

The Government uses the previous July's Retail Prices Index measure of inflation to determine increases in regulated fares, which was 3.6%.

Train operating companies set the prices of other tickets but are bound by competition rules.

Labour councillor Tim Young said it was “outrageous” fares were being increased.

He said: “It’s ripping off passengers and the public, and I really do think we will reach a tipping point where people will have had enough.

“The people of Colchester will either suffer or stop using the trains, which will both hit them in the pockets or they will have to use the road more.

“The state of Colchester’s rail services are already a huge concern.”

Mr Young said he had come back from a trip to Germany.

He said: “I have had a long weekend in Berlin, where the rail services they have over there puts ours to shame.

“Not only are they new and reliable, we paid 30 euros each for a four day card, meaning we could use the buses, trams and rail for however many times we liked and we found it excellent.

“The problem is rail services are fragmented, a Labour government would bring this back into public ownership to have far greater control.

“People will react very strongly with these increases and we have planned protests in the new year outside Colchester station.”

A spokesman for Greater Anglia said: “Our average fare increase is 3.4 per cent, however, we’re freezing our advance fares, which start from just £5 and can be up to 60-70 per cent lower than walk-up fares.

“The 3.4 per cent increase applies to Government regulated fares, such as season tickets and anytime singles and returns.

“We need to apply this increase, as many of our costs will also increase in line with inflation.

“We offer a range of great value off-peak fares such as advance, super off-peak day return, off-peak day return, Duo and Kids for £2 deals, as well as Group Save discounts.

“We have just launched a national pilot for a 26-30 rail card, offering discounted rail travel to a further population group in East Anglia.”