Government U-turn on railway ticket office closures welcomed

In July this year, industry body the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) unveiled proposals which could have lead to nearly all offices being shut, with facilities only remaining open at the busiest stations.

In St Helens, all of the borough's railway ticket offices other than St Helens Central were to be closed, an announcement which caused much anger and opposition. 

This would have meant the borough's busiest station, Newton-le-Willows would be without a ticket office, as would Lea Green upon the completion of its ongoing redevelopment. 

Newton-le-Willows would have been without a ticket office under the plans, despite being the borough's busiest station (Image: Stock)

While mobile tickets have become much more popular than the traditional ticket office in recent years, there were serious concerns about how the plans would impact elderly, disabled, and partially-sighted people. 

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For those working at train stations, there was also the extra worry of how the closures would affect their livelihoods.

Petitions were launched against the planned closures and at a full council meeting in July, a motion was approved to "object in the strongest terms" to the proposals.

St Helens Central would have been the borough's only station with a ticket office (Image: Stock)

The Government U-turned on the plans earlier this week, as the proposals to close railway ticket offices in England “did not meet the high thresholds” of serving rail passengers, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said.

Closures 'would hit most vulnerable hardest'

St Helens Borough Council's cabinet member for strategic transport, Cllr Seve Gomez-Aspron said: “It was incredibly clear to anyone with an ounce of empathy that closing the ticket offices at almost every station in the borough was an act that hit the most vulnerable the hardest. And credit to everyone who supported the campaign, including striking workers and Unions to protect our service.

"It would have led to stations in England being closed, whilst the next stop down over the border into Wales on services that go through our borough would be fully manned under their Labour Government. Likewise, MerseyRail trains on our Labour run authority would be open and staffed, but Northern stations wouldn’t be."

Cllr Seve Gomez-Aspron (Image: St Helens Council)

Cllr Gomez-Aspron added: "I hope this is the end of the debate, and the Government now focus on getting the trains to turn up in the first place!”