Govia has denied it is planning inflation-busting RPI+3% fare rises at its new West Midlands franchise, contradicting announcements from the government.

In a statement to parliament in June announcing Govia had won the franchise, rail minister Tom Harris said: "On the London to Northampton route the operator plans to raise [deregulated] fares by 3% over inflation."

This was later reiterated in Department for Transport announcements, and angered passenger groups. However, this week, Govia managing director rail development, Tom Smith, distanced his company from the DfT's statements.

"If you go back and look, you will see it was the DfT that said it, not us," Smith told Transit.

He said that some routes including London-Northampton may be able to bear large fare rises, but there were no such plans at present. "There is neither a commitment, nor an obligation, nor even a firm intention that is what we will do. I think you do need to be clear about that," Smith added. "For some reason the DfT chose to put these statements in their press announcement when what they were talking about was assumptions in a bid."

Although Smith acknowledged Govia's bid did include forecasts for RPI+3% increases, he insisted it was important not to give them too much weight. "We made a number of assumptions about what we might do to deregulated ticket prices in our bid and they are just that - assumptions," Smith said. "You make all sorts of assumptions in a bid, thousands of them, and what actually happens in reality is another matter because you are, instead of forecasting in a vacuum, running a business."