CAMPAIGNERS have expressed dismay and say an increase in rail fares is the Christmas present Dorset passengers do not want.

Fares are going up by an average of 2.3 per cent across the country next year.

The largest rise in three years will take effect from January 2, with travellers already hit by price hikes between 1995 and 2016.

Weymouth-Waterloo operator South West Trains says fares will rise by an average of 1.5 per cent.

It says this is below the July inflation of 1.9 per cent which is used by the government to set all regulated fares, including season tickets, and is also below the average national increase for 2017.

SWT says as well as paying for the running of the day-to-day rail network, fares are helping the government to support the biggest investment in railway since Victorian times.

Customers can check new ticket prices for 2017 by visiting www.nationalrail.co.uk Weymouth-Bristol operator Great Western Railway says regulated rail fares are to be kept in line with the retail price index of 1.9 per cent.

GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said: “The money raised by the government through fares ensures investment in more trains, better stations and faster services.”

But the West and South Dorset Green Party, which has held protests at stations, is concerned, and says it will continue to campaign for a “publicly owned modern railway that puts people and their transport needs before profit”.

It says as a stand alone increase the 1.9 per cent may on the surface appear ‘palatable’, but it is the continuous hike that has the cumulative effect.

Campaign co-ordinator Caz Dennett said: “We agree wholeheartedly with the view that the New Year fare increases are the Christmas present no one asked for – rather than giving us the gift of proper investment in rail infrastructure and full public ownership, yet again passengers are paying more but getting less.

“While fares keep rising, cuts to services and staffing are taking place across the network – with more ticket offices closing, removal of guards from trains, extension of driver-only operations and fewer staff at stations to provide help when we need it.”

As part of the national Action for Rail effort, members of the local Green Party will be at Weymouth and Dorchester stations on January 3 to wish passengers a happy new year and urge them to “voice their disgust at the fare increases and call for the long-overdue re-nationalisation”.