Train station ticket office consultation

31 October 2023

Plans to close rail ticket offices have been withdrawn by train operators following Transport Focus and London TravelWatch objecting to all of the current proposals.

The Secretary of State for Transport announced the outcome of the consultation and that the Government has asked train operators to withdraw their proposals.

Together with London TravelWatch we received 750,000 responses from individuals and organisations to the public consultation. Those responses contained powerful and passionate concerns about the potential changes at stations. Transport Focus would like to thank all those who took the time to take part.

Transport Focus has analysed the train operator proposals and public consultation responses and has published its response for each train operator:

If you need to check which operator runs a station you can check on the National Rail enquiries website.

While many of the train companies revised their station proposals in response to the consultation feedback, they all failed to meet the criteria set by Transport Focus. There were some, such as those proposed by GWR and TransPennine Express, which met the majority of our criteria. However, across all proposals, there are key issues, that are critical to maintaining accessibility to the national network that remain unresolved.

Our responses have considered a range of factors including whether the station will continue to be staffed, accessibility, alternative options for buying tickets and whether passengers will continue to be able to access station facilities like lifts, waiting rooms and toilets. Transport Focus assessed the ticket office proposals against a published criteria.

Southeastern also proposed changes to some ticket offices. All these proposed changes were for stations within London TravelWatch’s area.

Summary of the consultation

Transport Focus has published an overview which sets out the consultation process, the criteria we used to assess proposals and the key assessments made in making this decision.

This summary is also available in a range of accessible formats.

Copies of the response to each individual operator decision are available in a range of accessible formats.

If you would like any of our ticket office consultation documents in a different format, please contact us by:

  • Email: advice@transportfocus.org.uk
  • Telephone: 0300 123 2350
  • Post: FREEPOST, RTEH-XAGE-BYKZ, Transport Focus, PO Box 5594, Southend on Sea, SS1 9PZ.