A yearly Milton Keynes-London Euston season ticket costs £3,284 ? but in Germany a £2,047 ticket gives unlimited travel to anywhere in the country. In the Netherlands, passengers can buy an annual travel-anywhere ticket costing £1,382 - 138% cheaper than the Milton Keynes ticket.

The findings are in a study, for the RMT rail industry trade union, also shows that rail and Tube fares for London and the South-east are up to five times dearer than other major European cities.

The research is the first to compare the combined annual cost of mainline rail and city metro services in different regions.

Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT, argued that the private companies involved in the rail network were siphoning off profit and ensuring that rail fares in Britain were higher than in most Continental countries.

"The Rail privateers are taking out a billion pounds a year from the railways and £2m a week from the Tube - is it any wonder that commuters are paying through the nose for season tickets?" he said.

"Commuters in countries where the railways remain in public hands pay a fraction of season ticket costs here. The time has come to draw the line under privatisation and bring our rail and Tube back into the public sector."

Launching the RMT's "Transport Manifesto" he called for the railways to be taken back into public ownership and claimed that such a policy would yield £10bn in savings and revenues that would allow for fresh investment.

The price of tickets for Tube zones 1-3 has jumped by up to three times the rate of inflation. On mainline rail, the biggest rise this year was 7.2% on some Silverlink services into Euston.

The RMT has launched a General Election transport manifesto, with re-nationalisation as its priority. Other rail unions are also expected to use the fares comparison to support their case for public control of railways.

Calling for the railways to be taken back into public ownership, Mr Crow claimed that such a policy would yield £10bn in savings and revenues that would allow for fresh investment.

As the RMT "Rail Against Privatisation" march reached the South-east, the union argued that re-nationalisation would save more than it cost. In addition to the national network, he also called for legislation to scrap the Private-Public Partnership at London Underground.