Are rail fares in the UK unfairly priced?

I am always amazed at how "cheap" the cost of transport is when I travel. Not only that, the railway services generally run on time and are clean. A single journey by train from Schipol Airport to the centre of Amsterdam ranges from €3.80 to €5.30. The cost of a single journey from Gatwick Airport to central London (albeit a slightly longer journey time) is GBP19.90 - equivalent to €22.00. The cost of tickets goes up every year. Without fail. Many of those who commute are paying astronomically high fares (GBP4,300 per annum) to travel from the South Coast to London - a distance of around 65 miles. And these people aren't even guaranteed a seat! Recent changes to timetables across the country have been a debacle with trains arriving late and being cancelled arbitrarily. And then people have to "fight" to get their money back for missed journeys. The entire rail service is a disgrace and the fact that it is so grotesquely over-priced just fuels passengers' anger, particularly when they have had the opportunity to enjoy competitively priced services that are well run abroad.