The annual increase in rail fares set out yesterday prompted predictable anger from passengers. It’s not hard to see why. Overcrowding is getting worse, delays have risen sharply and upgrades to Britain’s creaking Victorian rail infrastructure are often painfully slow.

At the same time, wages are stagnant, meaning that rail travel is becoming unaffordable for the average passenger.

The Campaign for Better Transport said the rise — a 3.4 per cent increase and the biggest for five years — would seem like a “cruel joke for hard-pressed rail commuters”.

Labour insists the latest rise reinforces its call for renationalisation.

However, the row centres on a fundamental question: who pays for the railway?

The rise seen this year corresponds with a year-on-year drop in direct state