Rail fares in England to rise by up to 5.9% from March

Regulated rail fares in England will rise by up to 5.9% from next March, the Department for Transport has announced.

The rise is being capped at a level well below inflation, “to help reduce the impact on passengers”, the transport secretary said.

“This is a fair balance between the passengers who use our trains and the taxpayers who help pay for them,” Mark Harper said.

Fares will officially rise on 5 March 2023.

Before the Covid pandemic, fares were raised in January each year, based on the retail prices index (RPI) measure of inflation from the previous July.

The normal formula is RPI plus 1%.

However, the government said that rail fare increases for 2023 would be capped at 5.9%, well below July’s RPI figure of 12.3%.

Like last year, the government is also freezing fares for January and February, so that passengers have more time to buy tickets at the existing prices.