The rail industry's power to increase fares in England is to be curbed as part of a government drive to overhaul the rail fare system.
Until now, some regulated fares could potentially have gone up by 9.1% next January.
They will now be capped at 6.1%.
But campaigners say it is not enough, and point out that commuters will still have to pay an above- inflation increase next year.
Regulated fares are those which the government controls, and include season tickets, "anytime" single tickets around major cities, and off-peak inter-city return tickets.
They will go up in 2014 by an average of 4.1%, a number calculated using an average of inflation - as measured by the retail prices index (RPI) for July - plus 1%.
The reality is, this change won't benefit that many people, not compared to the numbers that commute on our trains every day.
The Department for Transport hasn't been able to put a figure on it, but I have been told by someone inside one of the train companies that it won't help the vast majority of people who buy season tickets next year.
Don't get me wrong. For those that do benefit there's a significant saving, potentially £30-40 a month. I could use that - frankly, couldn't we all?
But it's not as if fares will go down. Commuters' fares will still go up next January by more than inflation - and that will be for the eleventh year in a row.
Train companies can add up to 5% on top of the average rise, although fares that go up by more than the average must be balanced by others that rise by less or fall.
The government plans to limit that extra increase to 2% in the future. But the provision for the average regulated ticket price to go up by 1% more than inflation remains.
Mix and matchThe move is part of the government's Fares and Ticketing review being published by the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin.
The review will also detail a pilot scheme that could see all long-distance rail tickets sold on a single-leg basis, not as returns.
The government says this could allow passengers to more easily "mix and match" different ticket types when planning a return journey.
Other plans to be revealed by the Transport Secretary include:
- 'touch in, touch out' season tickets that could benefit part-time workers
- a code of conduct for train companies designed to make it easier for passengers to choose the best ticket for their journey
- strengthening of rules on how train companies alter opening times at station ticket offices.
Mary Creagh, the shadow transport secretary, said the new cap on fares would be "cold comfort for commuters".
"It has taken 18 months, delivers fare increases of up to 6% and is too little too late," she said.
"This announcement doesn't go as far as Labour's plans which would prevent train companies from increasing fares beyond one per cent above inflation."
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