Keighley rail passengers face a 2.8 per cent hike in fares from today.

Northern Rail – which operates trains on the Airedale line – said the increase would help fund improvements to stations, trains and services across the network.

But campaigners are critical of the rise, which will add about 10p to 20p to a single journey.

“It’s not as much as it has been in past years but it is still a fair chunk, particularly when people’s incomes are not increasing,” said Tim Calow, chairman of the Aire Valley Rail Users’ Group.

“And we are still not seeing any improvements to services. Reliability is pretty good but overcrowding remains a big issue.

“There have been plans for a number of years to run longer trains, but that would involve a substantial investment – nothing has happened and we don’t know when it will.”

Northern Rail said it will work with the wider industry and the Government to drive down the cost of running the railways, to provide better long-term value for money for passengers and taxpayers.