The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said the “government had asked train operators to withdraw their proposals”.
The move follows a huge public backlash to the cost-cutting proposals, which attracted 750,000 responses in a public consultation, 99% of which were objections, according to the passenger watchdogs managing the survey.
Harper announced the decision minutes after the watchdogs, Transport Focus and London TravelWatch, announced that they would formally object to all of the closure proposals.
Transport Focus said the responses “contained powerful and passionate concerns about the potential changes” that would have resulted in almost all of England’s remaining 1,007 ticket offices closing in the next few years.
Although the cost-cutting proposals were made by the train operators managing the station offices, they were widely understood to have been pushed by a government eager to trim the subsidy for rail.
Harper said: “The consultation on ticket offices has now ended, with the government making clear to the rail industry throughout the process that any resulting proposals must meet a high threshold of serving passengers.
“We have engaged with accessibility groups throughout this process and listened carefully to passengers as well as my colleagues in parliament.
This story is from the November 01, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the November 01, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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