RAIL passengers are facing a New Year rise in ticket prices of up to five per cent, it was announced yesterday.

All three of the region's major train operators will push fares up next month as part of the annual review of ticket prices.

The steepest increases are being introduced by Virgin Cross Country, which runs services from the North-East to the Midlands and the South-West.

Its value fares will rise by an average of five per cent, which the company said was the first increase in about four years.

It will mean, for example, that a single three-day advance ticket from Newcastle to Bristol will rise from £28 to £29.50.

A Virgin spokesman said business fares were also increasing by 1.5 per cent and season tickets by 0.5 per cent.

He said: "Increasing fares is always a hard decision for us. We don't like doing it, but it is necessary if we are to push ahead with investment in new trains."

East Coast Mainline operator GNER said its saver return tickets were going up 2.5 per cent and standard open returns 1.9 per cent.

Advance purchase tickets such as Apex and bargain returns will remain unchanged.

A standard open return from London to Darlington will rise, for example, from £154 to £157.

Spokesman David Mallender said: "We have held the increases to the level of inflation and in real terms those tickets that have gone up have done so by a very small amount."

More than half of all Arriva Trains Northern (ATN) fares will remain unchanged, although some tickets will rise by 1.2 per cent.

Ray Price, managing director of ATN, said: "We believe the increases we have made are moderate.

"Indeed, the majority of our fares remain unchanged and those that will change will on average increase by less than the rate of inflation."

Fran Critchley, deputy secretary of the North-East Rail Passengers' Committee, said she hoped any rises would go hand in hand with more punctual trains.

She said: "We are pleased that there are not many serious rises in the ATN franchise whose passengers have had a difficult time travelling in the past year

"As a rule, we don't want to see fare increases but if we do then we want to see them going towards producing more reliable trains."