COMMUTERS travelling to and from Chester are demanding better services and repairs to the station if they are to pay ‘unacceptable’ increases in rail fares, say campaigners.

On Tuesday afternoon campaigners against the proposed train fare hikes gathered at Chester Railway Station to object to the national changes which would see passengers pay an average of 6.2% more to travel by rail next year.

Campaigners have slated the increase as ‘unacceptable’ and ‘deplorable’ saying rail users would be made to pay extortionate sums to travel on out-of-date trains, endure cramped journeys and often not even get to sit down for hours on end.

Chris Dale, from the Cheshire campaign group and chairman of TravelWatch NorthWest, described the hike as a ‘bitter blow for long-suffering rail users in the North West’, saying commuters had the right to expect investment in the services if it went ahead.

“Many commuters are still riding around in over 20-year-old trains and have yet to see the benefits of future investment in rail,” said Mr Dale, who added passengers making the journey to Manchester from Chester on the ‘slow’ service would have to pay the hike despite the trains being ‘well past their sell-by-date’.

“In the last five years Chester Station has had some major refurbishments, but it is still not as good as it should be. There is a big gap on the roof of the stairway where there was a fire around 30 years ago and that has still not been fixed.

“They are doing all this work on electrification but that isn’t going to happen for some time, we need to see some improvements now.”

Readers commenting on the Chronicle’s Facebook page shared the view that the train fares were already far too expensive, with Martin Beeby saying the hike would force him to use coaches to visit his girlfriend in the South every fortnight.

And Rob Allen added: “Services out of Chester are pretty good but I do find it amazing it is quicker by car to Manchester than going on the train, even the quickest direct journey via Warrington takes just over an hour.

“But year-on-year, fares have risen and services stay pretty much the same, hardly fair getting the same for more cost during an economic decline.”

A spokesman for Network Rail said he was ‘not aware of the problems at the station’ and that the complaint would be passed on.