A FURNESS rail group is thankful for an ‘intervention’ stopping rail price increases of more than 12 per cent.

Train passengers were met with hiked rail fares on Sunday with the cost of a ticket increasing by nearly six per cent.

Regulated tickets in England and Wales will increase by 5.9 per cent on average – resulting in hundreds of pounds added to the price of many annual season tickets.

The increase is the largest in 11 years.

Rail minister Huw Merriman said the increase is “well below inflation and delayed”, saying: “I understand it has been a difficult year and people are feeling the pinch which is why – through the biggest ever Government intervention – we capped the rise well below inflation and delayed it coming into force.”

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group said: “The Government’s decision to hold fares down below current inflation is understandable.

“It is important that fares are set at a level that is appropriate for both the industry and its customers.”

Furness Line Action Group, a rail user group promoting the Furness line, said that although the increase is one per cent more than last year it is better than what could have happened without intervention.

Regulated fare rises have previously been linked to the Retail Price Index measure of inflation for the previous July, which in 2022 was 12.3 per cent.

But the Westminster and Welsh Governments aligned this year’s rises with July’s average earnings growth, which was 5.9 per cent.

A spokesman for the Furness Line Action Group said: "The 5.9 per cent increase, although one per cent more than the increase last year, has at least been capped by the Government.

“If there had been no intervention, the July Retail Price Index would have resulted in an increase of 12.3 per cent."