Great Western Coffee Shop

London commuters will see peak-time rail fares fall in January for the first time since privatisation in the Nineties.

Negative inflation means train operators will be forced to reduce the cost of tickets for about 400,000 passengers.

The fares are regulated by laws restricting train companies to increases of no more than one per cent above the July inflation figure.

Today's Retail Price Index figure for last month is expected to be strongly negative, meaning that ticket prices will have to drop by about one per cent.

The exception is Southeastern, the busiest commuter network, which has permission to increase fares by three per cent above inflation to pay for the high-speed commuter service from Kent to St Pancras International.

In January peak fares rose by an average of six per cent because inflation a year ago was running at around five per cent as oil prices peaked.

The inflation figures were hailed as a chance ^to turn the tide on years of train fare daylight robbery^. However, there are fears that rail operators will try to make up for the fall in revenue from peak fares by increasing the cost of unregulated off-peak, advance and first class tickets.

First Great Western, which operates services to and from Paddington, announced it is raising some off-peak fares by up to 20 per cent next month, with station car parking charges rising by 25 per cent. Other companies are also looking to do the same. Gerry Doughty, leader of the TSSA transport union, said: ^We expect a wave of companies to try now to make the passengers pay for January's fare cuts by jacking up the unregulated off-peak fares in September.