RAIL passengers in the Westcountry will be hit by some of the biggest fare increases in the UK after train companies revealed a steep rise in ticket prices.

Some Cross Country Trains routes will see fares soar by more than 11 per cent – almost three times the rate of inflation.

And First Great Western, which runs services out of Penzance, Plymouth and Exeter, says average prices will go up by 7 per cent.

The news comes days after it was revealed the strained South West rail network will get just eight new carriages to help cope with rising passenger levels over the next eight years.

Passengers have reacted with a mixture of astonishment and fury, with one Westcountry MP condemning the "astronomical" price rises which are due to come into force in January 2009. Regular rail user Adrian Sanders, Lib-Dem MP for Torbay, said: "Are we going to see a percentage equivalent rise in punctuality, comfort or capacity? I don't think so.

"I really don't see what justification there can possibly be for above-inflation increases given the fact passenger numbers are increasing. It can only be that the companies want to put people off using the trains because they don't have the extra capacity to deal with them."

Cross Country is putting up the cost of its regulated fares, which include season tickets, by an average of 6 per cent.

The company, which runs regular services from Penzance, Plymouth and Exeter to Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh, will push its unregulated fares up by 11 per cent. These include most leisure and advance fare tickets.

Cross Country said the changes were necessary to "allow us to continue investing in a better travel experience for our customers".

But Mr Sanders said: "Train operators have been saying this for many years now and to be fair there have been some improvements in punctuality and refurbishments.

"But the key to this is increasing capacity. We should be trying to encourage more people to use railways, which means putting on more services and not putting on above-inflation increases in fares.

"We live in a country where it is cheaper to fly to Alicante than it is to get a train from Exeter to London. Putting up prices even more will just keep people away from trains."

FGW will put up regulated fares, which are linked to inflation, by 6 per cent and unregulated fares by 6.6 per cent.

This will see the cost of a standard (peak) return ticket from Exeter to Paddington rise from £179 to £196.

However, some fares will fall in price. The same journey from Penzance to Paddington will go from £257 to £239. Some first-class fares will also fall.

An FGW spokesman said: "From our point of view we have done our very, very best to keep fares down. The issue we face is our costs are rising above inflation and we've got to deal with that now. We've tried to reduce the impact on customers."

South West Trains, which runs regular services from Plymouth and Exeter to Waterloo, will put up regulated fares by 6 per cent and unregulated fares by 7.2 per cent. The cost of a peak return from Exeter will rise from £105 to £113.

A spokesman for the company said: "South West Trains continues to invest, including £3.5 million on station improvements last year, £1.8 million on security guards, £12 million overall on ticket machines and car park expansions."

Peter Mulley, Westcountry secretary for the passenger group Railfuture, said: "Obviously this is something we are very disappointed about. The main effect will be that people will make fewer journeys on the trains.

"It should be said that if passengers can find an off-peak ticket they will probably find a bargain. However, the ticket system is so complicated that passengers are confused by it all.

"There has been more investment in the services in recent years but continually putting up prices is not the way to encourage rail use."

David Redgewell, regional spokesman for the Campaign for Better Transport, said the Government was to blame for the fare increases because it was cutting the amount of direct subsidy from the taxpayer.

"This means that in the future prices will just go up and up as the burden falls on the fare payer," he said.

He said improvements to the service in the South West were limited to a three- mile stretch of line between Axminster and Chard.

"I'm yet to see how Cross Country are improving; they have already cut their buffet service. Most of the improvements will be outside the South West," he said.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of customer watchdog Passenger Focus, said: "These average fares will no doubt mask some very steep rises on particular routes. We will study the real impact as we unearth the details in the next few days."