PASSENGERS and staff will call time on the failed privatisation of Britain’s railways today — as it emerged fares have risen nearly three times faster than wages.

As campaigners picket stations across the country this morning, a new study from the Action for Rail campaign revealed that so-called “regulated” fares have increased by 25 per cent since 2010 — while average pay went up by just 9 per cent.

Rail union RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “That’s the price of two decades of rail privatisation, and the whole rotten business needs to be swept away and replaced by a public railway under public control.”