COMMUTERS hit in the wallet by the biggest rail fares increase since 2013, will now be impacted by three 24-hour strikes on January 8, 10 and 12.

Next week’s strikes will be the third round of industrial action called by RMT, which staged a 24-hour strike on New Year’s Eve, in a long-running dispute about the role of guards. South Western Railway (SWR) will operate a contingency timetable with reduced services on all lines.

SWR managing director Andy Mellors said: “I had hoped to start the new year on a more positive note, instead I have to tell you the RMT has announced three further strikes.

“I am sorry you will once again be disrupted by unnecessary industrial action.”

Train tickets across the country went up by an average 3.4 per cent on Tuesday, when an annual first-class season ticket from Haslemere to Waterloo rose from £6,752 to £6,992, while a standard season ticket increased from £3,972 to £4,112.

With rail passengers facing the largest fare increases for five years, new analysis by the Southern Policy Centre revealed the burden of paying for UK rail services falls unfairly on passengers in southern England.

In 2016/17 passengers in the South paid 10.5p per mile more than the cost of running their service. Passengers in northern England, Scotland and Wales received huge subsidies, up to more than 40p per mile.

Professor John Denham said: “If passengers were treated fairly, the cost of their season ticket would be falling, not rising.”