FUNDAMENTAL REFORMS of the transport network have been urged by the Labour Party at their annual conference.

Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle has called for 'rigidly enforced' caps on rail fares as well as a review of the rail passenger franchise structure.

Ms Eagle said: "As I’ve travelled around the country during our Policy Review, let me tell you what I’ve heard. Young people who say they’ve dropped out of college, because the cost of getting there was just too high. Commuters who say their season ticket now costs more than the mortgage or rent. That’s a transport system that isn't working for working people.

"And the response from this Tory-led Government after two-and-a-half years and three transport secretaries? Train fares up, by as much as 11 per cent. Not for one year – but three years in a row. And when Labour forced a vote in Parliament last month? Not one Tory or Liberal Democrat MP voted to limit fare rises to one per cent above inflation."

She went on to accuse the government of being 'completely out of touch' over the effect of rising transport costs.

Some rail franchises could stay in public ownership under Labour, Ms Eagle said, naming both the East Coast and West Coast Main Lines as candidates for providing a 'public sector comparator' with the rest, although she did not explain how an incoming Labour government could achieve this if both franchises had been relet to private operators before the next general election, which seems likely.

She also said communities would have a greater say over their local train services.

Meanwhile the industry is still waiting for the announcement of a date for the High Court to consider Virgin's claim against the Department for Transport following the award of the West Coast franchise to FirstGroup.

Virgin, which is claiming that the risks associated with the FirstGroup bid were not properly assessed by the DfT, could only say that it was expecting a hearing to be arranged during the week beginning 15 October.

First had previously said that it would still be able to take over the contract as scheduled on 9 December if the legal issues had been resolved by 'mid-October'.

Dual mobilisation is continuing, with representatives of the DfT's company Directly Operated Railways also attending handover meetings with Virgin Trains, alongside FirstGroup. This is a contingency arrangement in case First cannot take over in December, in which case operation of the intercity West Coast services would pass to the DfT as 'operator of last resort'.