RAIL passengers face above-inflation fare rises from Monday, with some tickets going up by nearly 9 per cent.

Regulated fares, which cover season tickets and saver tickets, are going up by 3.9 per cent.

Unregulated fares, including cheap day returns, will be rising by an average of 4.5 per cent.

Unregulated fares on the East Coast Main Line, which is run by the GNER train company, will be increasing by an average of 8.8 per cent, while Central Trains' unregulated fares are going up by an average of 6.4 per cent.

Silverlink unregulated fares will be increasing by 6.1 per cent and Midland Mainline unregulated fares will be going up 6 per cent.

The smallest rises are on Merseyrail, where both regulated and unregulated fares are going up by an average of only 2.9 per cent.

Some of the sting will be taken out of the regulated fare rises by the fact that season ticket holders will be getting discounts for their companies' poor performance. These discounts will be as much as 10per cent on some routes, with the majority of companies giving 5 per cent discounts.