Rail passengers in the Bradford district face a 2.8 per cent hike in fares from this Thursday.

Northern Rail – which operates trains on the Airedale line – said the increase would help fund improvements to stations, trains and services.

But campaigners are critical of the rise, which will add about 10p to 20p to a single journey.

“It’s not as much as it has been in past years but it is still a fair chunk, particularly when people’s incomes are not increasing,” said Tim Calow, chairman of the Aire Valley Rail Users’ Group.

“And we are still not seeing any improvements to services.

" Reliability is pretty good but overcrowding remains a big issue.

"There have been plans for a number of years to run longer trains but that would involve a substantial investment – nothing has happened .”

Northern Rail said it would work with the wider industry and the Government to drive down the cost of running the railways, to provide better long-term value for money for passengers and taxpayers.