England Ticket Offices - Closure plans scrapped by the government

More embarrassment for the Transport Secretary as rail operators have been asked to withdraw the proposals

The future of rail travel in the UK has looked like it was on a terrible trajectory, especially over the past month with the cancellation of HS2 and the rushed out Network North proposal in its place. Despite this, there was a small glimmer of light as the ill thought out plans to close large swathes of ticket offices over England have now been withdrawn.

Mark Harper the Transport Secretary, along with the rail minister Huw Merriman, announced the changes on the morning of the 31st of October after a long consultation period which saw many groups oppose the plans including disability advocacy groups.

Harper stated that "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.". Something that would have been evident without having to get to the consultation phase, if the Tories actually travelled by train.

This was something that was stated by the Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh on Twitter X in addition to highlighting the costs of such consultations.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) doesn’t seem to have taken the feedback as kindly, doubling down on the original plans by saying "These proposals were about adapting the railway to the changing needs of customers in the smartphone era, balanced against the significant financial challenge faced by the industry as it recovers from the pandemic” and “Our priority remains to secure a vibrant long-term future for the industry and all those who work in it.” With a few edits, this statement could have been straight from the pre-consultation phase.

There is still more to do

Although this is a major win for the railway in England, there are still questions on what this means for Scotrail passengers as there are still plans to adjust the opening hours and pause some closures for two years.

We also await the next last gasp plan from the government and the RDG to try and cut more from the rail budget before the next election sometime next year. This could be an extended effort to switch to Driver only Operation, something that the DfT and the unions have been at loggerheads about in the year-long set of strike action.

As with this government, we’ll just have to wait and see and I will be sure to write about the twists and turns as they come.