- digital ticketing trials will start from the end of the summer across Yorkshire and the East Midlands
- passengers can now sign up for one of the 4,000 places available
- demonstrates government action to overhaul ticketing and get more people onto our railways as part of our Plan for Change
From today (6 June 2025), thousands of passengers across the north and East Midlands will have a chance to volunteer to take part in a new digital ticketing trial.
Backed by government funding, the trials will use GPS-based technology to track train journeys, ensuring passengers pay the best fare for the journey they take.
Digital ticketing builds on the government’s plans to overhaul the railways to make them simpler, more flexible and passenger-focused. Ahead of the creation of Great British Railways, the government continues to work to deliver positive changes like this for passengers – attracting more people back onto our trains, boosting the economy and delivering on the government’s Plan for Change.
The trials being operated by East Midlands Railway (EMR) and Northern Trains will run along these routes
- Leicester to Derby to Nottingham
- Harrogate to Leeds
- Sheffield to Doncaster
- Sheffield to Barnsley
Rail Minister, Lord Peter Hendy, said
Contactless ticketing is making journeys easier to navigate for millions of passengers and now our digital trials are actively recruiting volunteers to help expand this technology across Yorkshire and the East Midlands.
Simplifying ticketing is a major part of our plans to overhaul the railways. I encourage anyone who regularly gets the train along these routes to get involved and help us build a ticketing system that delivers a better experience for passengers and communities across the country.
Unlike the previous rollout of pay-as-you-go, which uses contactless payment at barriers, these trials will use GPS-based technology to track people’s location throughout their train journey.
Up to 1,000 passengers will be able to take part in each route of the trials, meaning 4,000 passengers in total. The first trial to get underway will be on EMR between Leicester, Derby and Nottingham, kicking off at the beginning of September. The other routes, operated by Northern, will begin between September and November, with each running for 9 months from the start date.
Anyone interested in taking part should check EMR and Northern Trains’ websites, where a recruitment campaign has been launched.
Alex Hornby, Commercial and Customer Director, Northern Trains, said
These trials mark an important step forward in simplifying rail travel and making the experience as frictionless as possible for our customers. By trialling pay-as-you-go technology on some of our routes, we’re helping to shape a future where hopping on a train is as easy as checking in and out.
We will now be reaching out to regular customers on those routes to see if they would be willing to participate in these trials later this year. We’re excited to see how they respond and look forward to playing our part in modernising how people travel by rail in the north.
These trials are expected to build on the success of the rollout of contactless ticketing at 53 stations across the south east. Since its introduction, more than 2 million entries and exits have been made using contactless cards or mobile devices, averaging around 140,000 a week – showing how popular the system is with customers using those stations already.
The department is also working closely with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands to develop their proposals for rolling out contactless ticketing even further.
Jenna Cowie, Interim Commercial Director at East Midlands Railway, said
We’re excited to be part of a project that aims to improve the way people travel and it is a great opportunity for our customers in Derby, Nottingham and Leicester to be among the very first in the country to experience a new, smarter way to buy train tickets.
This trial is all about making train travel easier, faster and more intuitive. No more fare confusion – just check in and out with your phone and travel knowing you’ll automatically pay the best-value fare for your journey.
This follows on from a watershed moment last month when South Western Railway (SWR) services became the first train operating company to transfer back into public control since the passing of the Public Ownership Bill, ending almost 30 years of fragmentation and waste under privatisation.
By bringing track and train together, Great British Railways will enable operations to run more seamlessly, bringing accountability and reliability back into the railways and, in turn, helping to reduce delays and cancellations.
Great British Railways will not just be the name of the new nationally owned railway, it symbolises a complete reset that will mark the high standard of service and delivery the public should expect to receive.
This week, the government also announced £15.6 billion – the biggest ever investment – in buses, trams and local train infrastructure for city regions, benefiting working people across the north, the Midlands and the south west. The funding – a more than double real-terms increase in capital spending on local transport in city regions by 2029 to 2030 compared with 2024 to 2025 – will empower local leaders to invest in transport projects that will make a difference to their local area.
