PASSENGERS and trade unionists will hit over 40 major rail hubs tomorrow in a call for the renationalisation of the railways.

New figures have shown that fares will have risen by almost a quarter by the end of the Con-Dem government’s first term, despite stagnant wages.

Labour shadow transport secretary Mary Creagh will use a speech in London to call for a cap on all fares.

“David Cameron has failed to stand up for working people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis,” she will say.

“He’s allowed train companies to sting passengers with inflation-busting fare rises of over 20 per cent since 2010, costing them hundreds of pounds.

The retail price index inflation marker was announced at 2.6 per cent yesterday — meaning regulated fares can rise by 3.6 per cent in January next year.

Additional flexibility means that some supposedly-regulated fares may rise by an astonishing 5.6 per cent — meaning some four-figure season tickets will see a hike of over £200.

The Action for Rail campaign will distribute thousands of postcards to passengers at train stations across Britain this morning, including London King’s Cross, York and Bristol Temple Meads.

The cards will call on MPs to back state control.

“We can’t go on like this,” Ms Creagh will say.

“The choice facing passengers is between fares rising another 24 per cent by 2018 under the Tories, or a Labour government which will cap annual fares on every route and enact the biggest railway reforms since the Tories’ botched privatisation, delivering a better deal for passengers and taxpayers.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady joined the leaders of transport unions RMT, Aslef, TSSA and Unite in a call for public ownership.

“We’ve ended up with slower trains and higher fares than countries who have kept their trains in public hands,” she said.

And Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “Privatisation of the railways — a wheeze by John Major which even Margaret Thatcher, the arch-advocate of privatisation, described as ‘a privatisation too far’ — has left us with a fragmented system which is all about making a private profit at public expense.”

A recent YouGov poll found that rail renationalisation was supported by 68 per cent of the population.