Commuters were today facing inflation-busting rail fare rises on services still blighted by delays, cancellations and overcrowding.

Increases of about 2.7 per cent are due in January under the controversial ticket-pricing policy for Britain's rail network.

Such a rise, which is significantly higher than the rate of CPI inflation, would add more than £100 to the tickets of hundreds of thousands of workers from London's commuter belt. For travellers from Guildford, Crawley and St Albans it would jump by £103, from Stevenage £104, Chelmsford £110, Farnham £112, and Horsham, £113, according to figures from the .

From Basingstoke, Reading, Bracknell or Maidstone, a season ticket would go up by £124, £129, from £131, £138, and Colchester £142, Milton Keynes £145, £151 and Central £159.

“Next year's fare rise will come as a blow to passengers already paying thousands of pounds to endure overcrowding, delays and trains that to stop at stations as scheduled,”

said , chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport.