Campaigners are celebrating news that the Government has intervened to put the brakes on rail company plans to close station ticket offices.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said train operators have been asked to withdraw their proposals. It’s a decision that supports a Daily Focus reader poll carried out earlier this year showing six in ten people were against the cull.
Disability groups and unions were up in arms when it emerged hundreds of station kiosks were earmarked for closure in a cost-cutting exercise.
The Chamber took part in a nationwide consultation initiated by the rail industry.
Responding to the news that the closure plan is being scrapped, Chamber Policy Adviser Declan Riddell said: “When the proposals were first announced in the summer, we ran a poll in Daily Focus to get the views of the business community against the backdrop of changes in travel patterns and how we buy tickets.
“More than 60 per cent of respondents said they were opposed to any plans to the closure of rail station ticket offices.
“Feedback suggested that passengers need confidence when travelling by train, especially when ongoing industrial action causes service delays and cancellations.
“Passenger confidence is pivotal in getting more of us out of cars and travelling by train. The decision to reverse ticket office closures has recognised this.”
Passenger watchdogs who ran the nationwide consultation reported that there were 750,000 responses to the consultation, 99 per cent of which were objections.
Transport Focus and London TravelWatch announced that they would formally object to all of the closure proposals which would have affected most of the 1,007 ticket offices remaining in England.
Mr Harper said: “The consultation on ticket offices has now ended, with the government making clear to the rail industry throughout the process that any resulting proposals must meet a high threshold of serving passengers.
“We have engaged with accessibility groups throughout this process and listened carefully to passengers as well as my colleagues in parliament.
“The proposals that have resulted from this process do not meet the high thresholds set by ministers, and so the government has asked train operators to withdraw their proposals.”
Rail industry chiefs are said to be angry at the U-turn on proposals reflecting cost-cutting that the government had urged upon them. Train companies said that only 12 per cent of tickets were now bought at station kiosks.
