Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to address differences in ticket prices between regulated and un-regulated rail lines.

Under the current system, each train operating company offers a range of fares, some of which are regulated by Government. Train operating companies have flexibility in how they set the prices of unregulated fares; however, in practice, many closely follow the change in regulated fares.

This Government acknowledges that the current fares system is overcomplicated and can be confusing to passengers. We have therefore committed to reviewing it with a view to simplifying it.