New, beefed-up security barriers are set to be rolled out at railway stations across England as part of a £33 million crackdown on fare dodgers. The Labour Party government initiative aims to stop people evading ticket fares, with waist-high ticket gates to be installed at stations that currently lack them.
First stations affected
Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Stafford, Stevenage, Elephant and Castle, Worthing, Nuneaton and Tamworth will be the first train stations to receive the new barriers. Following these, Market Harborough, Witham, Rayleigh, Ware, Hertford East, Manningtree, Royston, Gipsy Hill and Worcester Foregate Street will also see installations.
Government statement
Labour Party Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told The Sun: “Fare evasion is a blight on our railways costing up to £400 million a year, which is why we’re stopping fare dodgers who take the system for a free ride in their tracks.” She added: “When people chose not to buy a ticket, they are actively making journeys worse for their fellow passengers – costing hundreds of millions of pounds every year which could otherwise be used to improve services.”
Alexander continued: “That’s why as we rollout Great British Railways, we’re rolling out more ticket gates at stations across England – protecting honest fee-paying passengers and making sure cash in our railways goes into improving their journeys and building a fairer, more reliable service passengers can trust.”
First installation operational
The first installation is now operational on High Wycombe station’s London-bound platform, according to reports. A Chiltern Railways spokesperson said: “We are installing new ticket gates at High Wycombe to replace the current 30-year-old gates at the station. Installation work on the new gates is expected to finalise this summer.”
