Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the impact of (a) ticket office closures and (b) staffing reductions at rural railways stations on passengers.

We expect all train operating companies to use reasonable endeavours to meet their obligations for regulated staffed ticket office opening hours under Schedule 17 of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA).

If train operating companies wish to make changes to regulated opening hours of ticket offices, they should follow the process in the TSA. The ‘Secretary of State for Transport's Ticketing and Settlement Agreement ticket office guidance’ sets out the approach which the Secretary of State will normally take in deciding how to exercise her role under the TSA in relation to ticket office opening hours.