TRAIN drivers’ union Aslef accused the government yesterday of covering up the true cost of the “murky” world of rail privatisation to “make it harder for people to find out how we are being ripped off.”

It criticised the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Office for Road and Rail (ORR) for failing to fully reveal vital statistics and figures on the huge cost of subsidies to private rail operators.

The union launched its attack as it published its annual Rail Franchise Handbook yesterday, an in-depth report relating to the state of train and freight operating companies running on Britain’s railways, but some of the figures could not be included as they are no longer readily available.