A SEASON ticket for rail travel between Swindon and London Paddington has increased in price by more than any other route since privatisation, new figures reveal.

On average, the Transport Salaried Staff Association (TSSA) estimates commuters spend about a third of their salaries travelling between the town and the capital for work.

Since rail privatisation in 1995 the cost of the annual season ticket between Swindon and London Paddington has risen by 93 per cent, to £8,200, the biggest increase for any season ticket to London.

Manuel Cortes, TSSA leader, said: “It is an absolute disgrace the enormous burden that has been heaped on commuters’ shoulders since the railways were sold off 20 years ago.

“Those on average earnings are paying a third of their salaries just to get to work, the equivalent of funding a £200,000 mortgage every year.

“Season tickets were meant to protect when the railways were sold off. But while commuters and their families have suffered a harsh squeeze on their household budgets, with annual tickets doubling in many cases since 1995, the fat controllers running the private rail firms have seen their own salaries rocketing ahead.”

Mr Cortes has called on the Labour Party to add a year-long rail fare freeze to their manifesto ahead of this year’s General Election.

Graham Ellis, a campaigner for the TransWilts line, between Swindon and Westbury, said he felt TSSA’s data was being used to score political points.

“Over this period inflation has been at around 80 per cent,” he said.

“Milk has gone up by 36 per cent and bread has gone up by 143 per cent, so should we be having a campaign to bring the price of bread down?

“I can give you loads of statistics but overall the system is too complex. This is not the view of a political party but the whole fare system needs someone to oversee a proper review.”

TSSA held a protest in Peterborough, with more planned later this week.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, representing Network Rail and operators, said: “Once again the TSSA is being deliberately misleading by focusing on some of the most expensive fares while ignoring cheaper deals and the effects of inflation.

“Overall, the average price of a season ticket is less than £2,500, equivalent to around £5 a journey.

“For the decade to 2013 regulated fares, including season tickets, rose by above inflation as per the policy of successive governments to switch a greater share of rail costs from taxpayers to passengers.

“Passenger numbers have doubled in the last two decades, thanks to better services and discounting on unregulated fares, resulting in the amount of money operators pay back to government to reinvest in the railway increasing fivefold to £2bn.”

First Great Western were unavailable for comment.