Train fares go up today for passengers as rail unions warn the cost of rail travel has rocketed in ten years.

The RMT said that price hikes were putting people off using the train as they calculate the cost of motoring has not increased by as much over the same period.

The annual January fares increase sees fares go up this year by the highest percentage since 2012.

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The price of an anytime return ticket between Glasgow and Edinburgh will cost £27.60 from today as rail fares are hit with a 3.8percent rise.

A ticket between Glasgow and East Kilbride, a popular commuting route will cost £7.40 from today.

The RMT said fares have increased by 38 percent since 2012, when it was a 6 percent hike.

Over the same period they said that petrol prices had gone up by 8.6 percent.

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Mike Lynch, the union’s general secretary, said: “We already have a cost-of-living crisis and now there is a climate cost to latest Scottish rail fare hikes which will deter people from using rail, especially when we know the price of using rail has risen four times more quickly than the cost of petrol in the last decade.”

“Rising fares, fewer services and cuts to ticket offices and safety critical rail infrastructure means ScotRail passengers will be paying more for less.

“On the one hand, the Scottish Government has said it wants to reduce the distances travelled by car for a healthier, fairer and greener Scotland yet, at the same time, it is increasing rail fares during a cost-of-living crisis and presiding over proposals to reduce ticket office hours by a third, slash services by more than 10% and significantly cut funding for rail infrastructure.”

A Transport Scotland spokesperson, said: “We know that there is much work to be done in encouraging people back to rail if we are to achieve our net zero targets.

“That is why we have instructed ScotRail to identify ways to encourage increased demand at the right time, in the right place, as we continue to recover from the pandemic.”