Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the reasons for initiating consultations on the closure of ticket offices in railway stations.

Together with industry, we want to improve and modernise the experience for passengers by moving staff out from behind the ticket office screens to provide more help and advice in customer focused roles and additional support to those who need it.

When proposing major changes to ticket office opening hours – including closures – train operators are required to take into account the adequacy of the proposed alternatives in relation to the needs of passengers who are disabled; and to include this in the notice of the proposal sent to other operators and passenger groups. We would also expect operators to consider other equality related needs and make this clear in the notice sent to other operators and passenger groups.