COMMUTERS are feeling the pinch as rail fares across Essex have risen again, adding hundreds of pounds to annual travel bills.

Passengers travelling to London are coming to terms with up to six per cent increases in the cost of season tickets set by the Government.

This means that commuters from Braintree, Witham, South Woodham Ferrers, Southminster and Burnham are paying an extra £200 per year.

Derek Monnery, chairman of the Essex Rail Users Federation, said: "I do not think the rise is fair, and in Essex we have some of the oldest and scruffiest trains yet our services are among the most profitable in the country. It's just not justified."

Although Chelmsford commuters experienced a lower-than-average rise of 4.9 per cent, or £160, many passengers are angry.

Ministry of Justice employee Tony Sourke, 42, who commutes into London from Chelmsford during the week, said: "People working in London do not get a pay increase to help with the extra costs and it would take forever to drive into central London from here. We have little choice but to get the train."

Although it is only one month before new rail franchise Abellio takes over the East Anglian service, the Dutch company will not have the power to lower prices as that is set by the Government.

Mr Monnery said: "I doubt there will be any improvements on the East Anglian line until 2015, when a new and longer rail franchise will be introduced but a rise in fares now does not justify this.

"We need extra tracks if much is going to improve and at the moment that does not appear to be on the Government's agenda.

"They seem content to run the service at full capacity in rush hour and National Express East Anglia has said that it implemented the maximum it could to improve the service with the current two lines.

"I think that our local MPs are starting to wake up to the fact that people are getting angry and the Government has put the issue on the back-burner because it has been having franchise problems.

"People are taking to cars already. Train station car parks are charging so much and with the rail fares increasing and the petrol duty frozen people are going to change the way they travel to work."

Michael Roberts, chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "Money raised through fares helps to pay for better services.

"The focus of the whole industry is to keep on reducing the overall cost of running the railways as a way of limiting future fare rises and providing taxpayers with better value for money."

If you would like to join the Campaign for Better Transport, which has launched a Fair Fares Now initiative to fight fare increases, visit www. bet tertransport.org.uk/fairfares