Fares up as season tickets go down.

SOME rail fares will rise by well above the inflation rate in the new year despite a fall in the price of nearly all season tickets, it was announced yesterday.

Train companies said fares would go up by an average of 1.1% in January with regulated fares, including season tickets, going down by 0.4% due to the low RPI inflation rate.

But many unregulated fares, such as cheap day returns, will rise considerably.

Single supersaver fares on First Great Western services will go up 15% in January, while some advance-purchase tickets on Arriva Trains Wales will increase by 9.4%.

Passenger groups and unions accused train companies of "masking" the high rises by not giving separate figures for unregulated fares.

These were some of the increases announced yesterday:. First Great Western - A 15% increase on single, supersaver fares. Arriva Trains Wales - A Cardiff-Manchester advanced-purchase ticket will go up 9.4%, from pounds 11 to pounds 12. Southeastern - Some off-peak day returns will go up 7.3%. Virgin Trains - West Coast Main Line travel anytime standard returns will rise 6% with London-Manchester going up from pounds 247 to pounds 262.

Atoc said the 1.1% overall increase was the lowest annual rise since rail privatisation in the mid 1990s, adding that the average cost of a train journey would rise from pounds 5.05 to pounds 5.11 from January.