It's official: price is a huge factor in whether passengers will use high speed rail services.

That is according to Passenger Focus, which asked more than 3,400 passengers their views about the Southeastern service.

It was always widely thought many people would not use the Javelin trains if prices were substantially higher than the fares on the standard trains, but this is the first piece of research released into the matter.

Tunde Olatunje, speaking for Passenger Focus, said: “They made it quite clear that price would influence their decision on whether to take advantage of the quicker journey times.

Graphic: sample fares on the services introduced earlier this year

"Specifically, nearly 60 per cent of them said they would be willing to pay a premium fare of up to 10 per cent, but when the price went up to 20 per cent only 28 per cent of them would be willing to use the service."

Passengers also asked for more trains to run during the evenings and at weekends.

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