The BBC's Simon Montague: "Most journeys are getting cheaper"

Some passengers on the worst-performing lines in south-east England will face rises of only 0.5%, the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising has announced.

London commuter fares will rise 1.9% on average.

Franchising Director John O'Brien said: "I have spoken frequently of my disappointment over deteriorating performance levels over the last year.

"Today's news should provide some compensation for passengers, many of whom will be paying less for their tickets next year in real terms."

Priority for these commuters at London's Paddington station remains reliability of service

The prices are based on a July 1998 inflation figure of 3.5%. After three years of fares being held to the inflation rate, 1999 ticket prices - excluding London commuter services - will be held to inflation minus 1%.

The poor performance on the Chiltern line and on Connex South Central's South London and Sussex Coast lines will mean travellers on these routes will face rises of only 0.5%.

The same increases will apply to Thames and LTS (London Tilbury and Southend) Rail.

The best performance has been from Silverlink (formerly North London Railways), where fares will rise 4.2%.

Jonathan Bray, campaigns director of pressure group Save Our Railways, said: "Many commuters will be relieved that they will not be facing inflation-busting increases.

"However, this may be only a temporary reprieve. Flawed regulation of the railways means that if companies manage to be slightly better than awful next year, fares will soar again."

Price rises have slowed

The BBC's Christopher Wain reports on the new fares

Research carried out for Opraf has shown that between April 1996 and March 1998, the average price paid per mile by passengers increased each year by less than the rate of inflation.

Mr O'Brien said: "One of my main objectives is to increase the number of passengers travelling by rail and today's news can only help towards that goal.

"The research on average fares paid by passengers over the last two years is very encouraging."

John Prescott: Coming down hard on poor rail service

The announcement coincides with a Central Rail Users' Consultative Committee survey that criticises several operating companies for price rises above inflation in the last year.

While confirming that fares went up by an average of 3.1% - against inflation of 3.7% in the same period - it found that on routes operated by nine of the 25 companies prices increased in real terms despite a dip in performance.

It cited Connex South Eastern, which increased fares by an average of 4.4% despite its trains suffering major delays.

The news will give Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott ammunition in his battle to shake up the privatised rail network.

Fares line by line

Permitted fares increases for train companies in the south-east of England: