Brussels wants cut subsidies and make transport users pay the full price.

Airport news for Airport Hotels,Travel on 15/08/2011.

Arrange your travel plans by choosing from car hire, hotels, flights, airport parking and travel insurance using our form.

Bureaucrats in Brussels are attempting to jam through new rules that could lead to rail fares in the UK rising by 50 per cent. It emerged yesterday that the European Commission wants the full cost of rail travel to be borne by passengers, so no government subsidies are used to fund the services.

Critics are warning that this could lead to some £4 billion in taxpayer funding being stripped from the railways every year. Commuters could likely be left having to pay for the difference.

An example of how ticket prices could skyrocket is provided by looking at the price for an annual season ticket for the journey to London from Sevenoaks in Kent. The far is currently £2,800, but that could rise by £1,400 to a whopping £4,200.

The Transport White Paper published by the European Commission also seeks higher road charges and wants transport-related tax breaks, like company cars, to be eliminated.

The paper says EU member states should ‘move towards’ total application of principles based on the ‘user pays’ idea. The EU says this would eliminate distortions that include harmful subsidies, leading to revenue generation and helping to guarantee financing is available for future investment in transport.

The paper goes on to say that transport users in the future will likely have to pay a greater proportion of costs than they do today. The paper also proposes the creation of what it terms Single European Railway Area that would put the UK’s railways under greater control from Brussels.

More Airport News