RAIL workers are planning to protest when higher rail fares are announced.

The biggest rail workers’ union is planning a series of protests on the day higher rail fares are set to be announced.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will demonstrate outside stations in more than 30 locations across the county - including Barrow.

Union activists and campaigners will also step up demands for a publicly-owned railway during the protests on Wednesday August 14.

Steve Nott, RMT national executive committee member and a Dalton councillor, said: “RMT members are protesting against yet another fare increase for the public.

“Only 10 per cent of stations across the rail network are fully staffed yet the fare paying public pay some of the highest rail fares in Europe.

Where does the money go? Well instead of being reinvested into the infrastructure to improve the customer experience by staffing stations longer the profits continue to be syphoned off by the franchise owners and their stakeholders.

“Given these franchisees are mainly foreign owned this money is never filtered back in to the UK rail network to make the much needed improvements we all want to see.

“A privatised railway does nothing for the British public, we need a publicly owned and naturally integrated railway now.”

There has been speculation that the increase in fares will be around 2.7 per cent, adding more than £100 to season tickets.

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and Network Rail, said: "We are making trains more frequent and less crowded with over 7,000 new and refurbished like new carriages plus thousands of extra services each week by 2021. While increases to season tickets are regulated by government, money from fares is crucial to enabling these kinds of improvements."