Elephant and Castle and Gipsy Hill are among railway stations receiving new ticket gates as part of a £33.4 million government programme.
THE KEY POINTS
At a glance
- New ticket gates will be installed at stations across England
- Elephant and Castle and Gipsy Hill are included in the programme
- Taller gates will be introduced to prevent people jumping barriers
- Fare evasion puts up to £400 million of railway revenue at risk each year
- The first gates are expected to be installed during the first half of 2027
Taller ticket barriers are to be introduced at railway stations as part of a £33.4 million government crackdown on fare evasion.
Elephant and Castle and Gipsy Hill are among the stations receiving funding for new gates under the first stage of the programme.
The Department for Transport said the gates would be installed at stations and platforms which currently have no barriers, with fare evasion hot spots being targeted.
A range of barrier types will be introduced, including taller gates designed to prevent people jumping over them and more of the standard waist-high gates already used across the railway network and London Underground.
The government has not said whether the taller gates will be installed at Elephant and Castle or Gipsy Hill.
Fare evasion puts up to £400 million of railway revenue at risk each year, according to the Department for Transport.
It said money lost through passengers travelling without valid tickets could otherwise be spent maintaining the network, upgrading trains and improving onboard WiFi and other passenger facilities.
Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy said: “Fare evasion is not a victimless crime.”
He said preventing fare evaders from reaching platforms would help protect public money and support further investment in the railway.
The new gates will allow passengers to scan digital tickets, insert paper tickets and use contactless payment at stations where tap-in and tap-out travel is available.
The government said the investment formed part of wider reforms ahead of the creation of Great British Railways, including an expansion of contactless pay as you go travel and trials of digital ticketing.
Which stations will receive new ticket barriers?
Funding has been allocated for gates at the following locations:
- Avanti West Coast: Stafford and Liverpool Lime Street
- East Midlands Railway: Market Harborough
- Greater Anglia: Witham, Rayleigh, Ware, Hertford East and Manningtree
- Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern: Royston, Stevenage, Elephant and Castle, Worthing and Gipsy Hill
- TransPennine Express: Manchester Piccadilly
- West Midlands Trains: Tamworth, Nuneaton, Worcester Foregate Street and Worcester Shrub Hill
The government said this was the first stage of a wider programme to increase the number of ticket gates in use across England, with the possibility of a further rollout elsewhere in the UK.
The first phase is expected to be installed during the first half of 2027, with the currently funded programme due to be completed by the middle of 2028.
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