Here's how to simplify rail fares and pacify passengers

Britain has two kinds of long-distance rail passengers.

- SIMON CALDER TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT

The majority, of which you may well be part, are thoughtful travellers who organise their trips well ahead and are content with an advance ticket for a direct train from A to B. They choose the optimum combination of timing and price, just as they would with flights.

The minority is a loose collection of people who value flexibility in the time they travel and the chance to stop off along the way from A to B. That is my tribe. We are collectively concerned about the erosion, on the East Coast Main Line, of the chance to buy our favourite ticket types: off-peak and super off-peak (the latter is cheaper, but has more time restrictions).

The reason we love these tickets is because they deliver so much for so little on the line connecting London King's Cross with Yorkshire, northeast England and Scotland.

Take London’s King's Cross to Newcastle. Last Saturday, I could travel on any LNER train I wished for a super off-peak fare of £92. This bought the right to stop off to view the fine cathedral in Peterborough, pause for lunch in York, and sightsee in Durham. After each visit, I would be entitled to hop on the next train.