Thousands of rail customers are being hit with a shocking fare increase after a major blunder

THOUSANDS of rail customers saw a shock rise in their ticket prices this week after a major train company unexpectedly increased fares.

South Western Railway last week increased prices on 522 routes in and out of London after a major disruption prevented prices from rising in line with other train fares in March, The Sun has learned.

The train company, which says it carries more than 220,000 passengers every day, did not warn that prices would rise, leaving some train passengers shocked when their usual fare was changed without warning.

The journeys affected were routes that included a ride on the capital’s underground network.

If you live outside London, you can usually buy a ticket into the city, which includes a journey on the London Underground.

But some of those routes did not increase in price correctly in March, when train fares typically rise.

The Department for Transport has confirmed that train fares will rise by an average of 4.9% on March 3 this year, which will be a huge blow to travellers.

Speaking to The Sun, one passenger who saw his fare randomly increase last week said: “My normal journey cost a lot more than normal and I assumed it was a mistake.

“So it was really annoying when I emailed SWR and it said that this was actually the right price, but it was just not right for the rest of the year.

“I didn’t take it into account because I assumed the previous price was for the whole year, so it’s just an extra cost to get to work.”

In the email to the customer, SWR said: “There has recently been an increase in certain fares from some SWR stations to London where a tube journey is included.

“This is due to an anomaly in these rates following the rate increase in March this year, where some rates did not see the increase when they should have, and so remained unchanged at the original 2023 rate.

“As such, this price increase comes too late and therefore the new price is correct.”

A spokesperson for SWR told The Sun: “Following the changes in March, we identified 522 (0.009%) of these prices that did not rise in line with other rates, which we are now correcting.

“All 522 prices are for fares that interact with TfL (Transport for London) and were missed due to a timing misalignment within the sector system and we are correcting these.

“The small number of customers using these rates have benefited from the cheaper initial price for this period, meaning no-one will be left out of pocket.”

How can I save on train fares?

If you regularly travel on the same routes, for example for commuting, it may be worthwhile to purchase an annual season ticket.

National Rail says if you make the same journey three or more days a week, a seven-day season ticket is likely to save you money.

You can use National Rail’s free online calculator to calculate your savings.

You can also save money by splitting your tickets. Trainline usually does this for you, but another website you can use to split your trip is Splitticketing.co.uk.

You don’t have to switch. Split tickets are valid as long as the train stops at the station for which you purchase the tickets.

Buying a rail card can reduce your fares by up to a third on every journey.

You can get 16-25 or 26-30 train tickets if you are between 16 and 30 years old.

There are also “two together” train cards which give you a third discount if you regularly travel as a couple, but you must travel together to use these.

Do you have a money problem that needs to be solved? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

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