Off-peak rail fares are to be frozen for a third consecutive year but peak and cross-border rates are set to rise, ministers have confirmed.

Four in 10 ScotRail journeys will be kept at their current level when prices change next January.

But peak fares and season tickets will increase by 1 per cent.

Many fares to England and Wales will also rise by 1 per cent, in line with those south of the border.

Labour warned that the train passengers were being "ripped off".

The changes were confirmed after official figures showed that one measure of inflation, the retail prices index (RPI), stood at 1 per cent last month.

Scottish Infrastructure Secretary Keith Brown said: "The Scottish Government wants to see more people take the train and recognise that prices have to be affordable and fair.

"The continued freeze on the cost of off-peak rail fares, for the third consecutive year, is good news and will help encourage passengers to shift to more lightly-used services where possible."

Separately, the low inflation figures also promoted a row over whether or not the Bank of England should raise interest rates.

Any change in the historically low rates could hurt those with mortgages, many of whom currently enjoy small monthly repayments.

However, a raise in interest rates would be good for savers who have suffered since the wake of the 2008 financial crash.

Michael Dugher, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, said: "It is clear that passengers are being ripped off – forced to pay ever higher prices to travel on trains that are increasingly overcrowded and unreliable."

Union leaders warned that many households' finances were still to fragile to deal with a rate rise.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said the low inflation rate showed the economic recovery could not be taken for granted.

"With our future economic prospects still so uncertain, early interest rate rises would bring real risks to households," she added.

“There is still a large living standards gap to make up, and it won’t be closed without a higher productivity recovery."

But business leaders said that the the bank should raise the rate.

James Sproule, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: “It is important that a low headline rate of inflation does not stand in the way of normalising interest rates... it makes no sense for interest rates to be at a historic low.

"Rates have been at 0.5 per cent for more than six years, and millions of new businesses, homeowners and investors have never known a period of rising rates. Therefore, it is right that Mark Carney has committed to increasing them at a “slow and gradual” pace. The sooner he acts, the more able he will be to keep the course of rate rises in check.”