Ken Livingstone has set out his plans to bring London's train network under his control.

At present, the mayor is responsible for the Underground service, buses and trams. However, on Wednesday he argued that a regional rail authority would provide a more integrated and higher quality service for commuters.

Under the proposals, the 12 train operators currently providing services in and out of London would be reduced to three, with franchises cut to five years.

Ticket prices would also change - currently, it costs a passenger £1.70 to travel from zones one to three on the Tube, but £3.70 on overground lines.

"It would mean we can start to bring major transport improvements to large parts of London not covered by the Tube network," said Livingstone.

"If we start with a shadow form of running the London rail authority, changes can start to be made relatively fast."

Although the mayor claimed the government accepted that the new measures would be practical, transport secretary Alistair Darling insisted that it would need to be examined whether bodies such as Transport for London could take control of local services.

"What you need to watch though, in all of this, is that you don't end up Balkanising the railways," he told the BBC World at One programme.

"It needs to be run in a way that is consistent. We need to...make sure there is a simplified, streamlined organisation that can run the railways properly and control costs.

"Now that means you do need to have a simple guiding mind. It does not mean you have got to have the same people owning the track as owning the railway trains."