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Economists are warning rail passengers to expect a 3.5% fare increase next year.

It would follow a 3.6% jump in train ticket prices this year.

The exact fare rise will be confirmed when the July Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation measure is released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday, but economists from Investec and EY Item Club predict the figure to be 3.5%. The Department of Transport use July's RPI to determine regulated rail fare increases, which come into force every January.

Regulated fares include commuter season tickets, long distance off-peak tickets and Anytime tickets.

In January the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, said RPI has "no merit", adding that "virtually everyone recognises" the alternative - and often lower - Consumer Prices Index (CPI). Rail campaigners want CPI to be used for calculating new fares.

Earlier this year, timetable changes led to chaos on many routes, including Northern Rail's network.

A Campaign for Better Transport spokesman urged the Government to "commit to a fares freeze".

He said: "Given the mess surrounding the new timetable, the lack of improvements and the failure to deliver compensation, the Government cannot go on telling passengers that fare increases are justified."

(Image: PA)

And Labour's shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said: "Chris Grayling's handling of our railways is now beyond a joke.

"The Government's failure means passengers have faced truly staggering fare rises, with fares having increased three times as much as wages.

"Labour is calling on the Government to freeze rail fares on the routes most severely affected by the timetable changes - Govia Thameslink, Arriva Rail North and First Transpennine Express - as a small gesture of goodwill towards those passengers who have suffered and continue to suffer the worst of the timetabling chaos."

A DfT spokesman said: "Any fare increase is unwelcome, but it is not fair to ask people who do not use trains to pay more for those who do.

"Taxpayers already subsidise the network by more than £4 billion a year - meaning that 38% of our transport budget is spent on the 2% of journeys that the railway accounts for."

He added fare increases will pay for additional carriages, services and upgrades.

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, representing train companies, said: "Of every pound spent on train fares, 98p is invested back into the railway, helping to underpin a once-in-a-generation investment to change and improve for the benefit of our customers, local communities and UK economy."