The Liberal Democrats, for their part, promised during the election campaign to limit fare increases to "RPI-1 ie, RPI-1 iefares in real torms.
A more efficient railway will help to limit fare rises in the future, and offer better long-term value for money for the taxpayer".
The shadow transport secretary, Mary Creagh, said Labour was considering a pledge to limit fare rises to inflation – although the party is reluctant to make spending commitments before the election.
Many fares are regulated by the government; train companies may raise them only according to a set formula that limits fare hikes to one percentage point above the rate of inflation measured by July's increase in the retail-prices index (RPI).
That is an unusual situation for Southwest, which limited fares to $299 each way until early this year, when it abandoned the cap.
But limiting a fare and toll increase and halting deep service cuts would be enough for now, he said.
The rescue plan would limit the fare and toll increases to about 8percentt and stop most or all service cuts.
The breakthrough to limit the fare hike came after months of agonizing stalemate and brinksmanship in Albany.
Instead of going all out on the Web like many American papers, Japan's top papers have limited online fare, so that readers must buy print editions for full articles.
Updated at 2.39pm GMT 2.14pm GMT Industry responds to fuel duty freeze and move to limit train fare hikes Representatives of the transport industry say Osborne's decision to scrap next year's fuel duty rise and limit the rise in some train fares show the government is on the side of the people.
