Transport Secretary Grant Shapps plans to trial a system of ‘flexible’ season tickets

Ministers plan a shake-up of rip-off rail fares in a bid to head off anger about today’s latest round of price hikes.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will announce plans to trial a system of ‘flexible’ season tickets offering discounts to part-time workers travelling only three or four days a week.

A separate trial on routes between London, the North and Edinburgh will today seek to sort out the controversial pricing system which means an off-peak single can cost almost as much as a return.

If successful, the system could be rolled out across the country.

A ‘root and branch’ review of the entire rail system by Royal Mail chairman Keith Williams is also due to report in the coming weeks.

The moves come as ministers are braced for a backlash today over fare increases averaging 2.7 per cent which come into force today.

Some long-distance commuters will be hit by a rise of more than £100 on the annual cost of getting to work despite fewer than two-thirds of trains being on time last year.

Bruce Williamson, of pressure group Railfuture, claimed fares are ‘outstripping people’s incomes’. He added: ‘Welcome to another decade of misery for rail passengers.’

Protests at the rises are expected outside major stations today including London’s King’s Cross, where passengers will join unions and campaigners to call for lower fares and more staff.

Among the routes where the cost of annual season tickets is up by a three-figure sum are Reading to London (up £132 to £4,736), Gloucester to Birmingham (up £118 to £4,356) and Glasgow to Edinburgh (up £116 to £4,200).

An annual season ticket from Welwyn Garden City in Mr Shapps’ Hertfordshire constituency to London will rise by £84 to £3,100. A source close to the Transport Secretary said he understood the anger felt by commuters about constant price hikes.

Last night the Department for Transport confirmed plans for a ‘fares trial’ on some commuter services run by Govia Thameslink Railway in the South East.

A trial on routes between London, the North and Edinburgh will seek to sort out the pricing system which means an off-peak single can cost almost as much as a return (stock image)

Details are being finalised but the pilot is expected to include ‘flexible’ season tickets as currently only those working full-time gain significant savings. In the trials on the London North Eastern network, trials will assess the popularity of cheaper one-way fares after years of controversy over walk-on single tickets.

For example, a traveller buying a ticket at the station to go from London to Edinburgh would pay £150.50 for a Super Off-Peak single but £151.50 for a Super Off-Peak return. From today, a Super Off-Peak single will be just £75.75.

Similar discounts will be offered on services from Leeds and Newcastle to the capital. Last night Mr Shapps insisted ministers were ‘committed to putting passengers first’ while adding that ‘significant change will take time’.

But campaigners want more immediate help, including an end to the annual round of increases based on the Retail Prices Index which has been 2.8 or 2.9 per cent during 2019 up to November. This measure has been largely abandoned by other arms of government in favour of the lower Consumer Prices Index.

Robert Nisbet, of industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said average fare rises have been held below inflation for three years running while investment in new trains and services continues.

But a TUC study has indicated that some commuters spend more than seven times as much on season tickets as their European equivalents.

The union umbrella body declared that today’s rises cannot be justified when the private rail companies have paid out more than £1.2billion in dividends to shareholders in the last five years.