Transport Insights

The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed that there is no target date to complete its programme of enabling rail stations in the South East outside London to accept contactless payments.

As I reported on Monday, the 50 stations due to be upgraded are the first stations in the second phase of a programme being delivered by Transport for London (TfL), which should have been completed last year.

The first phase of 53 stations was delivered earlier this year, meaning that so far less than half the overall programme of 233 has been delivered.

A DfT spokesperson told me “We don’t have a specific target completion date to share,” which could just mean that they don’t want to disclose a new target date that might be missed.

The DfT did say that it expects to announce further stations in the South East for delivery mid 2026 “in due course”.

TfL refused to tell me anything, on the grounds that the programme that it is delivering for the DfT is the DfT’s programme.

That didn’t stop Alex Williams, TfL’s chief customer and strategy officer, saying

We are delighted to be extending pay-as-you-go with contactless to a further 50 stations from 14 December, including Stansted Airport, making it easier for those arriving at the airport to travel to London and experience all the city has to offer.

It may be of course that the delay is not due to technical difficulties but to the DfT releasing the funding slowly.