Rail fares in England and Wales are rising by nearly five per cent despite train cancellations being among the highest levels for ten years.

Public transport campaigners claimed passengers are being “punished” and will be “angry” at Sunday’s price hikes.

The fares rise could add £275 to an annual season ticket from Brighton to London, taking the cost from £5,616 to £5,891.

Reliability has been hit by several factors in recent months, including strikes, infrastructure faults and severe weather.

The equivalent of 3.9 per cent of services in England and Wales were cancelled in the year to February 3, analysis of Office of Rail and Road (ORR) figures shows.

That is narrowly below the worst performance of 4.1 per cent in records dating back to 2014.

Chris Page, chairman of pressure group Railfuture, said: “Why are rail passengers being punished year after year with inflation-busting fare rises?

“No matter that there’s a cost-of-living crisis, no matter that we’re facing a climate emergency, the government seems more determined than ever to price us off the railway and onto the roads.”

Rail minister Huw Merriman said last month that the UK Government had attempted to “split the balance between the UK taxpayer and the fare payer” in relation to fare rises, which he described as being “well below inflation”.