Station with just 12k weekly users object the most to ticket office …
An Essex railway station with around 12,000 weekly users had the highest number of objections to ticket office closures. It comes after the Government asked train operators to withdraw their proposals.
Watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch both opposed the widespread closure of ticket offices due to issues such as the impact on accessibility. Plans to close the vast majority of station ticket offices in England, plus Avanti West Coast’s ticket office at Glasgow Central, had been brought forward by train operators and their representative body, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG).
This followed pressure from the UK Government to cut costs amid the drop in revenue caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Figures held by Transport Focus shows there were more than 6,000 station specific objections across the Greater Anglia network.
The highest number on the network (637) was attached to Hockley railway station, followed by Ely in Cambridgeshire (611) and Witham (507). Statistics obtained from the Office of Rail and Road found there to be 630,040 entries and exits at Hockley railway station between April 2021 and March 2022 – equating to roughly 12,166 weekly passengers.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper previously 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.”
The full list of station specific objections is as follows:
- Alresford (9)
- Audley End (284)
- Billericay (246)
- Braintree (134)
- Burnham On Crouch (23)
- Clacton (216)
- Colchester Town (116)
- Diss (139)
- Elsenham (59)
- Ely (611)
- Frinton (157)
- Great Yarmouth (88)
- Hatfield Peverel (35)
- Hockley (637)
- Ingatestone (413)
- Kelvedon (172)
- Lowestoft (208)
- Manningtree (190)
- March (173)
- Marks Tey (117)
- Newport (32)
- Prittlewell (20)
- Rayleigh (194)
- Rochford (188)
- Shelford (99)
- South Woodham Ferrers (25)
- Southend Victoria (124)
- Stansted Mountfitchet (134)
- Stowmarket (135)
- Thetford (58)
- Whittlesford (44)
- Wickford (167)
- Witham (507)
- Wivenhoe (278)