Norfolk's first £200 rail ticket could be on the way

The figure could be exceeded if the cost of an 'anytime' return from Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street is increased by the rate of inflation.

Rail companies are currently in the process of revising their fares, while the Department for Transport (DfT) has recently announced that from March 5, the cap on ticket prices for government-regulated rail fares will go up by 5.9pc.

Those regulated fares include most season tickets on commuter routes, some off-peak return tickets on long-distance journeys, and flexible ‘anytime’ tickets for travel around major cities.

Despite being less than half of what inflation was in July (12.3pc) - the usual way of deciding the cap’s increase - the 5.9pc rise is still the biggest increase in more than a decade. 

An ‘anytime’ return fare from Norwich to London Liverpool Street currently costs £123.70, and would rise to £131 if the full 5.9pc cap-increase is applied to that journey - a rise of £7.30.

Norwich railway station - the largest rail terminus in the county (Image: Newsquest)

Greater Anglia, which operates that route and most others in the region, said the company was currently working to finalise the new ticket prices, but could not comment on specific costs at this stage. 

The 5.9pc cap means that in theory however an off-peak return from Norwich to Sheringham could potentially rise from £14.80 to around £15.67, and an anytime return from Norwich to Cambridge could go from £45.30 to around £47.97.

In total, some 55pc of rail journeys across the UK are unregulated, with rail companies free to set whatever price they wish. 

Those include advance fares, first-class tickets and some other journeys.

One of those unregulated tickets is the ‘anytime’ return from Norwich to Liverpool, which is the longest direct rail journey it is possible to make from Norfolk - taking roughly five and a half hours each way - and currently costing £194.20. 

A rise of just 3pc, far below inflation and below the 5.9pc cap for regulated fares, would push the cost of that ticket over £200.

Whether and how the cost of that ticket may change is not yet known however, as East Midlands Railway (EMR), which operates the route, is still finalising fares for the coming year. 

Rail tickets are set to increase in price (Image: Antony Kelly)

A spokesman for EMR, whose trains also stop at Peterborough, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester on their way from Norwich, said: “We are in the process of working through and finalising the details [of the cap rise] at present, and therefore unable to comment on individual journeys at this stage.”

The DfT has hailed the 5.9pc cap increase as the “biggest government intervention ever to keep rail fares down”.

It is nonetheless the largest increase since 5.9pc was imposed in 2012 and 6.4pc was imposed in 2011.