Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of a cashless rail network on rail passengers.

We want to modernise the way passengers buy and pay for their rail travel to improve accessibility and enable a smoother purchasing and journey experience. As we do this people will naturally migrate to using smart ticketing, contactless cards and buying online at their own convenience. During the COVID-19 crisis these methods of buying and paying for travel have been important in supporting the health and safety of passengers and station staff.

Before there is any move to remove paper ticketing or cash payments we would need to ensure passengers who are dependent on cash payments or do not have access to the internet or a smartphone can continue to purchase train tickets as readily as they can do today.