CAMPAIGNERS protested outside Ealing Broadway Station after the government announced an inflation-busting hike in train fares for the sixth time in seven years.

Come January ticket costs will jump by an average of 4.1 per cent. This could rise to nine per cent in some cases as long as operators balance it out with smaller than average rises elsewhere.

Oliver New, chairman of the Ealing branch of rail union RMT said: “This is effectively a pay cut for many people. Over the last five years ticket prices have gone up 40 per cent and wages by only 15 per cent on average.

“It's totally diabolical. Many people have to struggle to pay for their fares, while the private rail firms are raking in ever larger profits.” First Great Western, which runs services in the borough, could not give details of increases yet but a spokesman said in the past rises have been kept close to the 4.1 per cent average. This would see a monthly a season ticket from Southall to central London being hiked by £6.70 from £167.50 to £174.20.

The protest outside Ealing Broadway Station yesterday was one of 50 across the country organised by Action for Rail, which is run by several unions and wants to see the return of a state run rail service.

They say investment by private train companies is 'pitiful' and publicly owned railways in Europe cost less to run, have more investment and lower fares.

A spokesman for First Great Western said the rise imposed by the government is mandatory and is made to provide cash for investment.

He said since taking over in 2008 the company has invested £85 million across its network of 210 stations, another £80 million ‘renewing engines and refreshing the high speed fleet’ and just last year renovated about 15 old buffet carts, turning them into passenger carriages to increase capacity by 4.500 seats on peak services out of London.

There are also billions of pounds of investments planned for the near future including electrifying the Great Western Line between London and Wales.

The government calculated the 4.1 per cent rise by the taking the Retail Price Index (the higher method of measuring inflation) and adding one percent.