Ticket office at Peterborough railway station set to remain open as national closures planned

The ticket office at Peterborough's railway is set to avoid country-wide closures that are planned.

LNER has revealed that it intends to retain ticket offices along its major stations Edinburgh Waverley, Newcastle, York, Doncaster, Peterborough and London King’s Cross, with opening times remaining unchanged.

The company will be following the trend and closing ticket offices at its other stations, however, stating that it now sells 87 percent of tickets online, six percent at ticket offices and 7 percent through ticket vending machines at LNER stations.

Smaller nearby station such as Grantham and Newark Northgate are set to see their travel centres repurposed to see “colleagues supporting customers on the stations proposals to create a modern station retailing experience.”

Nationally, nearly all ticket offices across the country and expected to close with the number of job losses unknown.

The Rail Delivery Group has announced the measure to reduce costs owing to the fact that passenger numbers are at their lowest level since 2002 and that revenue is 30 percent below pre-Covid levels.

LNER has also confirmed that is has committed to “multi-million-pound investments” at three stations, one of which is Peterborough, but no further details have been provided at this time.

Responding to the consultation on changes to ticket offices on the UK rail network, including by LNER, Andrew Pakes, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Peterborough commented:

“Plans to close nearly every railway station ticket office in the country as part of a cost-cutting exercise will be concerning to passengers and those who rely on the railways, particularly those with access or additional requirements.

“It is welcome news that, despite the wider changes, LNER have pledged to keep open the ticket office at Peterborough Station. The station is the gateway to the city and wider region, and we need to ensure it remains staffed and accessible.

“The growing use of digital ticketing is changing how many passengers use the trains, but these changes should be about complementing face-to-face staff at stations, not replacing them entirely.

“These wider changes will raise further questions for staff and passengers concerned about the government’s management of the railways. We have already seen months of industrial action, higher fares and poorer services, including threats to axe basic services like wifi for passengers.”

For more information on station changes visit the LNER website.