I fully understand the concerns that rail passengers have with the cost of train fares, and the impact that this has on household budgets, and that is why the Government has committed to freeze regulated rail fares in real terms until 2020. This will save around £400 on the average season ticket.
This builds on the work done by the last Government to keep the costs of rail travel down. In 2014, it ensured that, for the first time in a decade, average regulated rail fares were capped at inflation. For this year, Ministers went further, announcing that no regulated rail fares at all would rise by more than inflation. I accept that any increase in regulated fares is regrettable.
Record amounts are being invested to achieve better train services. Fares revenue is crucial to funding day-to-day railway operations, as well as the massive upgrade programme which Ministers have driven forward, with £38 billion being invested over the next five years. This will mean new state-of-the-art trains, better stations and hundreds of miles of electrified track which will help cut journey times, provide better connections and stimulate growth across the country. Bath is benefiting from this with the electrification of the train line and brand new Hitachi trains coming after 2017.