Kingston and Surbiton face a battle with neighbouring borough Epsom to see its two train stations rezoned.

MP for Kingston and Surbiton James Berry has been lobbying in Parliament to change Surbiton and Kingston stations from zone 6 to zone 5, a move that could save commuters £156 a year.

But fellow Conservative MP Chris Grayling has started a similar campaign in his constituency, hoping to get the Oyster card into town and move Epsom station into London’s zone six.

Currently Epsom is not in a London zone.

Mr Berry said: “There’s quite a few [MPs] going for it and if one gets it, the case for giving it to the other boroughs strengthens.

“I think that’s one of the things that will make it difficult with the budget and I assume that’s the Government’s worry. But I think our case is better than the others.”

The Kingston re-zoning campaign, which was first proposed almost a decade ago by Liberal Democrat predecessor Ed Davey, now aims to see stations rezoned by 2017, when the new South West Trains contract is renegotiated.

But with a limited budget surrounding re-zoning, Mr Berry has admitted his biggest hurdle would be working out how to pay the train company the annual £6m loss if the stations are reclassified.

In comparison, Mr Grayling’s campaign to get Epsom re-zoned in line with Epsom Downs and Tattenham Corner, which is already in zone 6, is estimated to cost less and in the region of £1m.

But Mr Grayling’s campaign has seen a similarly exhaustive struggle, with Epsom station originally set to move into a zone to get oyster cards in September 2015 before this was indefinitely delayed.

Mr Grayling called it “ridiculous” Epsom Downs and Tattenham Corner stations are already in zone 6, but Epsom itself is not, adding “it’s something we need to get changed”.

Mr Grayling said: “At this point we just want to get Oyster cards at Epsom station. It’s very frustrating, especially as a few other Surrey stations have since been included in the Oyster system.

“After getting Oyster, then becoming part of Zone 6 wouldn’t be cheap – it would cost about £1m.

“But zone 6 is definitely the goal.”

He also plans to use the renegotiation of the South West Trains contract to state his case.

Mr Grayling added: “South West Trains is now drawing up a new franchise agreement, and one thing we can do is tell them what changes in rail services we’d like to see over the next contract.

“There are a lot of MPs campaigning to get re-zoned. Other MPs are talking to transport ministers, as I am, and obviously there is a finite budget for these things.

“I’d say there’s friendly competition in Westminster between myself and other MPs, like James Berry.”

Last month, Mr Davey said the treasury had blocked his efforts in getting Kingston and Surbiton re-zoned as a “political measure”, but said Kingston’s new Tory MP would have no trouble securing the deal for the borough.

He had added: “It would be absolutely astonishing if he can’t pull it off.”

We asked the public what they thought about changing stations’ zones

University College London lecturer Daniel Kilburn, 31, of Shortlands Road, Kingston, said: “When you’ve grown up in London, you know what the realities of commuting from zone six are.

“Of course boroughs are going to compete to have this, but because it will bring in more people the rents will go up.”

Student Tom Watters, 20, from Plymouth: "I visit my girlfriend here quite a lot. It’s always a bit steep. All my friends moan about the expense of getting here.

“Because it’s a student town it should be moved over the others.”

Retired Mary Reid, 72, of Cambridge Road, Hampton: “It’s quite a central town so I think it deserves it [to move to zone 5].

“Overall I’m quite happy because it’s easy to get to, but if it saves people money then that’s great.”

Kingston University student Eliot Lord, 18, said: “I’m here five days a week travelling from Fulham.

“Anything that can save money is a good thing. You see a lot of people commuting here every day.”