End of the paper train ticket as railways 'go paperless'

A London Underground ticket barrier

Under the plans, customers will be able to "store" their tickets on so-called contactless credit or debit cards.

Ticket barriers will be upgraded so they are similar to those on the London Underground, where tube passengers can tap their cards to pay.

When someone reaches a station, they will simply tap their card or smartphone against a digital "reader" at the barrier. The computer will recognise that the customer has paid to travel through that location and will open, with the same occurring at their destination.

The plan would effectively end the need for paper train tickets.

Jacqueline Starr, managing director of customer experience at the Rail Delivery Group, which represents Network Rail and train operators, said the new ticketing system would "improve the experience" of travelling by rail.

She added: "The rail industry wants to respond to the needs of our customers and understands the importance of modernising train tickets so that passengers are no longer reliant on the old orange paper format.

"We are in the early stages of exploring how passengers could pay for and store tickets on their contactless credit or debit cards as part of our wider aim to improve the experience of rail passengers and move towards smarter types of ticket."

The move is part of plans to push Britain towards a cashless, paperless society in which people use cards or mobile phones to pay for restaurant meals, checking in at airports – and everything in between.

Currently passengers who book rail tickets online are required to quote a reference number or key a code into a self-service ticket collection machine before they board their train.

They are then required to keep hold of their ticket throughout their journey and, in many cases, their return ticket until they travel again.

The new system would remove the need to queue at ticket booths or print out coupons from machines in stations and return journeys would be "stored" on payment cards, alleviating the need for tickets altogether.

The new system would remove the need to print out coupons from machines in stations
It should also help end rail rip-offs by station payment terminals which fail to show, or appear to hide, the cheapest fares – a scandal previously revealed by The Telegraph.

The plan is being developed by the UK Cards Association, the industry body representing banks, building societies and card companies such as Visa and Mastercard, alongside the Rail Delivery Group and the Department for Transport.

A spokesman for the UK Cards Association said: "The future is using your card or phone as an authority to travel.

"It would be your ticket – you'd just associate the journey with that card when you buy and turn up at the barrier and it would allow you to go through the gate.

"We anticipate the system would be rolled out nationwide so that it was similar wherever you travel."

A spokesman for the Department for Transport confirmed that the department was looking at options for smart ticketing.

The train ticket plan emerged as new figures revealed that the number of payments made by contactless cards, where the customer waves their plastic over a reader in a shop, pub or restaurant, has trebled in the past year.

More than one in 10 payments are now made using a contactless card, up from under 4 per cent a year ago. The spending limit for each transaction – designed as a fraud backstop – was raised from £20 to £30 in September. Since then, the proportion of payments in pubs and bars made using contactless cards has doubled, the UK Cards Association said.

As a result, eight in 10 people rely on coins and notes less than a year ago, research by Barclaycard found.

As people carry less cash in their wallets, the cards association is also working with charities including Cancer Research UK to introduce "contactless collection tins".

"It's quickly becoming embedded in people's minds that you can tap your card to pay in shops," the spokesman said.

"But there are still areas where people are expected to use cash, such as charity collection tins.

"The idea is that if someone have no coins on them, only cards, they will still be able to donate. The same system could be used in museums, where you could tap your card or phone instead of dropping coins or notes into a donations box."

One in three merchants now accepts contactless cards.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: "Our plan for passengers is to build a 21st century railway that provides better journeys for all, and improved ticketing is a vital part of that customer experience."

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