Transport

The full list of UK train stations that are ditching tickets and moving to tap-on, tap-off later this year

Ryan Brothwell 17 November 2025 3 min read

Passengers travelling to every London airport will soon benefit from simpler train journeys, with the expansion of contactless ticketing to London’s Stansted and Southend Airports.

From 14 December, customers can tap-in and tap-out at all London airports for the first time, ensuring seamless connections from train to plane across our capital – just in time for Christmas travel.

The 6.7 million people travelling to and from Stansted Airport annually will no longer need to worry about booking tickets in advance and will experience more convenient and easier journeys.

The technology rollout is part of the government’s work to make rail fares and tickets more convenient, accessible and flexible through the move to Great British Railways (GBR) and builds on the introduction of other innovative ticketing technologies, such as digital pay-as-you-go trials running in Barnsley, Derby, Doncaster, Harrogate, Leeds, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield.

It has been made possible by £18.7 million in government funding, as well as support from Transport for London, as part of a wider scheme across the south-east, with 50 stations getting the same upgrade at once.

Other stations modernising ticketing include those used by publicly owned train companies Greater Anglia and South Western Railway, like Beaulieu Park, Woking and Chelmsford.

“Rail ticketing is far too complicated and long overdue an upgrade to bring it into the 21st century. Through the expansion of tap-in tap-out technology and shortly through GBR, we’re doing just that and making buying tickets more convenient, more accessible and more flexible – and ensuring passengers can get the best fares,” said Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy.

“As part of our Plan for Change, we’re delivering straightforward, stress-free train travel across the south-east, supporting passengers and boosting economic growth, jobs and homes.”

Tap-in tap-out ticketing allows passengers to use a bank card or contactless enabled device to enter any train station, instead of manually buying individual or return tickets.

Contactless technology will become commonplace under GBR, which, once established, will build on the expansion of existing successful pay-as-you-go and fares trials.

The expansion of tap-in tap-out builds on the introduction of other innovative ticketing technologies, like the digital ticketing trials, which have seen more than 4,000 journeys taken since gradually launching in September, as well as simpler ticketing in Greater Manchester, which ends the complex array of fares.

The full list of stations which are introducing pay-as-you go include: