The annual rises in rail fares should be decoupled from the retail prices index (RPI), as he argued in his Guardian article (This hefty train fare rise is yet another Tory betrayal of passengers, theguardian.com, 5 December). The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) has long believed that the RPI should be declared redundant for such uprating purposes. This situation led to its loss of “national statistic” status as far back as 2013. For uprating purposes, it is surely now reaching the end of the line. Hetan ShahExecutive director, Royal Statistical Society• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

Source: The Guardian December 06, 2017 18:45 UTC