Project Oval: TfL win DfT contract to expand contactless system to 233 rail stations by May 2024, Railcards coming to contactless payment cards

[Vexed]

keyGo, the pay-as-you-go system, has always supported the full range of day fares available as far as I know. It will charge a Travelcard fare if you take multiple services inside the zones, and will match the Contactless/Oyster rate for journeys within those areas too.

And outside the zones as well, I've had railcard discounted contactless scale fares from St Albans before.

 

[MrJeeves]

And outside the zones as well, I've had railcard discounted contactless scale fares from St Albans before.

Sorry, I had meant within the Oyster and Contactless areas rather than within the Zones 1-6/Travelcard area. I'll make that clearer.

 

[Edvid]

I was told that the KeyGo system could only cope with Off-peak and not Super off-peak returns, and it is the latter that I used most often when travelling into London after the peak.

I use keyGo on occasion and GTR's back-office has applied charges commensurate with Super Off-Peak Day Return fares whenever appropriate.

And don't get me started on buying a QR-coded ticket to London Thameslink only to find that the ticket barriers at Farringdon don't accept them!

Technically they're Aztec codes, but to be fair QR codes are far more prolific in everyday life and even a good chunk of the rail industry doesn't know the difference. QR code stickers near barcode scanners and references to QR codes on some TOC booking sites are testament to that!

As for a lack of barcode scanners on TfL-managed gatelines that probably won't change for a few years yet, i.e. when the presently-embryonic 'Barcode 2.0' project leads to new-spec eTickets being widely available.

 

[ClivePage]

I use keyGo on occasion and GTR's back-office has applied charges commensurate with Super Off-Peak Day Return fares whenever appropriate.

Well perhaps I ought to look into KeyGo again - but I was told my a member of Govia-Thameslink management that super-off-peak returns were not available on them. He could have been wrong (he was only lower management I'm sure) or things could have improved.

 

[Edvid]

Once Phase 2A is done I wonder which SWR stations will be included in the next group. Quite a lot of them need adding before the North Downs Line can join in (which I believe most passengers on that route aren't aware of).

Well perhaps I ought to look into KeyGo again - but I was told my a member of Govia-Thameslink management that super-off-peak returns were not available on them. He could have been wrong (he was only lower management I'm sure) or things could have improved.

It sounds like he confused keyGo fare compatibility with the inability to load Super Off Peak Day Return tickets to smartcards; they are two different things.

[Addendum: Just to be clear, GTR's smartcard is named The Key. With it you can not only buy fixed tickets, but also make use of GTR's PAYG scheme (keyGo) if you link a credit/debit card to it in your account.]

keyGo fare calculations are made by GTR's back-office after 0429 the following day. Being unable to load Super Off Peak tickets to The Key (or other smartcards) is because of limitations in gateline logic with regard to time restrictions for ITSO-fulfilled tickets.

 

[Haywain]

I was told that the KeyGo system could only cope with Off-peak and not Super off-peak returns,

This is not correct. KeyGo fares are applied at the appropriate rate, including Super OffPeak fares.

It will charge a Day Travelcard fare if you take multiple services inside Zones 1-6,

Only if the journeys are all on GTR services.

 

[JonathanH]

Once Phase 2A is done I wonder which SWR stations will be included in the next group. Quite a lot of them need adding before the North Downs Line can join in (which I believe most passengers on that route aren't aware of).

It will be interesting to see the direction in which afternoon restrictions are applied when the North Downs Line joins Oval.

 

[Kite159]

It will be interesting to see the direction in which afternoon restrictions are applied when the North Downs Line joins Oval.

Hopefully it won't be a case of afternoon restrictions applying in both directions, similar to some Northern fares.

 

[Sonic1234]

It will be interesting to see the direction in which afternoon restrictions are applied when the North Downs Line joins Oval.

Hopefully will never happen. All this smart ticketing is just extra layers of complexity, reduced information and a backdoor way to increase fares.

 

[CyrusWuff]

It will be interesting to see the direction in which afternoon restrictions are applied when the North Downs Line joins Oval.

Theoretically if you're not going anywhere near London, it should be off-peak both ways.

My suspicion is that there's likely to be a PM peak when heading towards Reading though, for consistency with journeys heading out of Paddington and Waterloo towards Reading.

 

[Hadders]

Well perhaps I ought to look into KeyGo again - but I was told my a member of Govia-Thameslink management that super-off-peak returns were not available on them. He could have been wrong (he was only lower management I'm sure) or things could have improved.

The member of management was incorrect. KeyGo charges the appropriate fare, whether super Off peak, Off peak, anytime or contactless zonal fare.

 

[Haywain]

For fares at the Project Oval stations the 'paper' fares are the same as the contactless fare, although restrictions will differ.

Which means that somefares within the Oval area do not match up because they pre-date Project Oval. Simple, eh?

 

[ClivePage]

Prompted by this discussion I have had a look again at KeyGo and The Key Smartcard. It seems that all five of the "smart" payment options that I know about have been crippled by design, at least as far as my most common journeys are concerned, given that I usually start from Luton and go to stations in the London area. Oyster cards (that I often use within London) are not valid north of Elstree & Borehamwood. Contactless payment by credit/debit cards: useless for most of my trips as they do not support a Railcard discount and though they have been usable to/from Luton Airport Parkway for a couple of years are only just about to reach a mile further up the track to Luton. The Key Smartcard: cannot buy off-peak returns online and Thameslink's website says they do not support super off-peak tickets at all. KeyGo: ok on Thameslink but apparently not valid on trains of East Midlands Railway, which I use about half the time. Tickets with Aztec codes on my phone or that I can print at home: usable to many National Rail Stations (notably excluding Farringdon) but not to nearly all TfL stations. So most of the time I am still forced to use the orange cardboard tickets, despite the fact that the barrier readers at many stations are so badly maintained that they often do not work or have the slots taped up. What a sorry state of affairs. Is Great British Railways going to to knock a few heads together: I won't hold my breath.

 

[MrJeeves]

Tickets with Aztec codes on my phone or that I can print at home: usable to many National Rail Stations (notably excluding Farringdon)

You can easily use them at Farringdon. Show it to the TfL staff at the gateline who will just open a gate manually.

Of course it's not as easy as a gateline with scanners attached, but it's not like it's impossible.

 

[ClivePage]

You can easily use them at Farringdon. Show it to the TfL staff at the gateline who will just open a gate manually.

Of course it's not as easy as a gateline with scanners attached, but it's not like it's impossible.

Yes, I know, as I've joined the queue for the staffed gateline several times. But it's just one more impediment that you (usually) don't get if you have a conventional paper ticket. Staff there have told me it's because the whole station, including the National Rail bit, is owned by TfL who want payment from Govia-Thameslink to install scanners - but Thameslink refuse to pay. One more job for GBR?

 

[lookapigeon]

I don't follow this thread that often so apologies if this has been mentioned recently: Is there any news on the "Railcards coming to contactless payment cards" bit ? Or is this still at Phase 0 of some multi-year multi-consultant IT feasibility study ?

Surely the technology must already be there in some shape or form in the backend, given that you can set discounts on oyster cards for railcards?

Obviously you can't write to the EMV card in the same way you can as with the oyster, but the concept of having a flag against the card cannot be impossible, given that each card has its own unique reference within the system/database and cards can already be banned for failing revenue checks/payments, it's just a different type of flag etc. And since most of the processing is done overnight in the back-office when calculating the fare and debit amount it will take the discounted flag into consideration and adjust the amount accordingly.

The multitude of fares (as alluded to in this thread) is probably what trips the backoffice up, TFL's is fairly simple - peak and offpeak, and zonal capping based on the original spec when it was designed for. Is there a technical or commercial reason why super-offpeak tickets cannot be loaded to a keygo smartcard?

 

[Edvid]

Staff there have told me it's because the whole station, including the National Rail bit, is owned by TfL who want payment from Govia-Thameslink to install scanners - but Thameslink refuse to pay. One more job for GBR?

TfL's longstanding disagreement over barcode scanners on their gates is with the TOCs as a whole through Rail Delivery Group, though there was a trial with handheld readers in summer/autumn 2024 (conducted at Farringdon and some other TfL-managed interchanges).

Since then RDG have decided to create a next-gen eTicket with TfL input, which is the "one more job" you refer to (Barcode 2.0 - see thread). It's still in the very early stages and - pilot station(s) aside - probably won't change any TfL gatelines for the next few years.

Is there a technical or commercial reason why super-offpeak tickets cannot be loaded to a keygo smartcard?

See my previous post (#1685)

 

[MikeWh]

Surely the technology must already be there in some shape or form in the backend, given that you can set discounts on oyster cards for railcards?

The backend currently only handles full adult fares. Oyster processing is done on the fly. Adult Oyster cards without discounts are run through the backend after the event, but not any other types of card.

but the concept of having a flag against the card cannot be impossible, given that each card has its own unique reference within the system/database and cards can already be banned for failing revenue checks/payments, it's just a different type of flag etc.

The current system is a standard whitelist/blacklist system. When testing during the pilot it acted in whitelist mode, since it's gone online it's now in blacklist mode. Adding another flag will make it a bespoke application.

it will take the discounted flag into consideration and adjust the amount accordingly.

While that deals with charging people the correct amount, it does nothing to prevent mis-use as the RPIs cannot see whether to ask to see a discount card.

 

[aron2smith]

Not sure what it was doing there, but National Rail's Timetable Changes page confirms contactless is expanding to over 50 stations in the South East on 14th December. Officially includes the new Beaulieu Park.

So after this, it's mainly South Eastern and South Western stations left for future phases. Hoping the system makes it to Cambridge in the end though.

Timetable Changes | National Rail

Find out about any changes to the published National Rail timetable here

www.nationalrail.co.uk

 

[JonathanH]

So fares change for Project Oval on 7 December, and Contactless based on those fares starts one week later on 14 December? That is slightly bizarre.

Contactless Fares​

Over 50 stations are being added to contactless fares from the start of the new timetable on 14 December 2025. The new stations are:

Station	Train Operator
Aylesbury	Chiltern Railways
Aylesbury Vale Parkway	Chiltern Railways
Great Missenden	Chiltern Railways
Little Kimble	Chiltern Railways
Monks Risborough	Chiltern Railways
Princes Risborough	Chiltern Railways
Saunderton	Chiltern Railways
Stoke Mandeville	Chiltern Railways
Wendover	Chiltern Railways
Beaulieu Park	Greater Anglia
Billericay	Greater Anglia
Bishop's Stortford	Greater Anglia
Chelmsford	Greater Anglia
Harlow Mill	Greater Anglia
Harlow Town	Greater Anglia
Hatfield Peverel	Greater Anglia
Hockley	Greater Anglia
Ingatestone	Greater Anglia
Prittlewell	Greater Anglia
Rayleigh	Greater Anglia
Rochford	Greater Anglia
Roydon	Greater Anglia
Sawbridgeworth	Greater Anglia
Southend Victoria	Greater Anglia
Stansted Airport	Greater Anglia
Stansted Mountfitchet	Greater Anglia
Wickford	Greater Anglia
Witham	Greater Anglia
Southend Airport	Greater Anglia
Baldock	Great Northern
Hitchin	Great Northern
Knebworth	Great Northern
Letchworth Garden City	Great Northern
Stevenage	Great Northern
Watton-at-Stone	Great Northern
Welwyn North	Great Northern
Ashtead	Southern
Box Hill & Westhumble	Southern
Dorking (Main)	Southern
Dormans	Southern
East Grinstead	Southern
Hurst Green	Southern
Leatherhead	Southern
Lingfield	Southern
Oxted	Southern
Reigate	Southern
Woldingham	Southern
Harlington	Thameslink
Leagrave	Thameslink
Luton	Thameslink

 

[MikeWh]

So fares change for Project Oval on 7 December, and Contactless based on those fares starts one week later on 14 December? That is slightly bizarre.

I would imagine that readers may be turned on between 7th and 14th in some areas, as has happened with other extensions in the past. Probably not at Stevenage though.

 

[CyrusWuff]

So fares change for Project Oval on 7 December, and Contactless based on those fares starts one week later on 14 December? That is slightly bizarre.

At a guess, that's to allow a week for testing with live fares. It's better than Phase 1 though, where the new fare structure went live in December 2023 but contactless launch was delayed until the end of June 2024 for the six Chiltern stations and February 2025 for the remaining Phase 1 stations.

 

[aron2smith]

So fares change for Project Oval on 7 December, and Contactless based on those fares starts one week later on 14 December? That is slightly bizarre.

7th December appears to be paper ticket fares, which unlike contactless accept railcards. Not sure if by chance or maybe because of the TFL hack but I'm fairly sure the ovalised fares were available on paper tickets to all phase 1 stations (Sevenoaks, Bletchley. Shoeburyness etc) way before contactless was rolled out.

 

[weeklycommuter]

So fares change for Project Oval on 7 December, and Contactless based on those fares starts one week later on 14 December? That is slightly bizarre.

I do not know why the webpage https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/timetable-changes states 'Over 50 stations are being added to contactless fares from the start of the new timetable on 14 December 2025. '. In fact, as their list confirms, it is exactly 50 stations which are the 49 stations listed in the following DfT press release dated 20 January 2025 plus the new Beaulieu Park station that opened on 27 October 2025.

Simpler train travel for the South East as contactless ticketing rolls out at 47 more stations

New tap in tap out system will guarantee passengers get the best fare available at the time on the day.

www.gov.uk

Further 49 stations getting contactless ticketing in 2025
Ashtead
Aylesbury
Aylesbury Vale Parkway
Baldock (new)
Box Hill and Westhumble
Billericay
Bishop’s Stortford
Chelmsford
Dorking (Main)
Dormans
East Grinstead
Great Missenden
Harlington
Harlow Mill
Harlow Town
Hatfield Peverel
Hitchin (new)
Hockley
Hurst Green
Ingatestone
Knebworth
Leagrave
Leatherhead
Letchworth Garden City (new)
Lingfield
Little Kimble
Luton
Monks Risborough
Oxted
Princes Risborough
Prittlewell
Rayleigh
Reigate
Rochford
Roydon
Sawbridgeworth
Saunderton
Southend Airport
Southend Victoria
Stansted Airport
Stansted Mountfitchet
Stevenage (new)
Stoke Mandeville
Watton-at-Stone
Welwyn North
Wendover
Wickford
Witham
Woldingham

 

[matthenj]

I do not know why the webpage https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/timetable-changes states 'Over 50 stations are being added to contactless fares from the start of the new timetable on 14 December 2025. '. In fact, as their list confirms, it is exactly 50 stations which are the 49 stations listed in the following DfT press release dated 20 January 2025 plus the new Beaulieu Park station that opened on 27 October 2025.

Very disappointing. I'm two stops up the line from Virgina Water, which has contactless, and 5 from Reading, which also has contactless... Kind of hoped they'd fill in the gap.

 

[MikeWh]

Kind of hoped they'd fill in the gap.

They do plan to fill it in.

 

[JonathanH]

They do plan to fill it in.

Not anytime soon though.

If it has taken a year to organise things for the latest batch of 50 stations, then is it going to be quicker for the next group?

DfT press release - no detailed mention of a next phase other than to say it comes next year

Simpler train travel to London airports as tap-in, tap-out expanded across south-east England

Buying tickets will be more convenient, more accessible and more flexible, ensuring passengers can get the best fares.

www.gov.uk

Press release

Simpler train travel to London airports as tap-in, tap-out expanded across south-east England​

Buying tickets will be more convenient, more accessible and more flexible, ensuring passengers can get the best fares.
From:Department for Transport and Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill CBEPublished17 November 2025

• easier travel for holiday makers with tap-in tap-out technology installed at Stansted and Southend Airport stations before Christmas
• ticketing modernised at 50 stations across south-east England, thanks to £18.7 million of government funding
• rollout comes as the government establishes Great British Railways, which will ultimately simplify fares and ticketing

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.

By making it easier to choose rail, the scheme will help passengers get the cheapest fares on the days they travel, make it easier to access work and as a result boost growth, as part of the Plan for Change.
Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy said:

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.
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. The government has already rolled out this technology at 53 additional stations across the south-east, with 5.6 million journeys taken since June 2024, and more stations to follow next year.
Alex Williams, Chief Customer and Strategy Officer at Transport for London (TfL), said:

For more than 10 years, the popularity of convenient travel via pay-as-you-go with contactless has grown and become increasingly popular across London and the surrounding areas. 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.
Expanding pay-as-you-go with contactless will further help those travelling by rail outside London do so more flexibly and conveniently, avoid the need to pre-purchase tickets or paper Travelcards when heading into the capital, and support the wider UK economic recovery through easier access to rail travel.

Gareth Powell, London Stansted’s Managing Director, said:

The introduction of contactless travel on the Stansted Express is great news for passengers and will make rail travel between Stansted and London even more simple and convenient.
London Stansted is the third largest airport in the London system and the second biggest gateway to the capital for European visitors. So, as a major enabler of inbound tourism as well as the airport of choice for millions of people in London, more seamless rail travel between the airport and London Liverpool Street will significantly improve our passengers’ experience and make choosing the train even more attractive.

Jacqueline Starr, Executive Chair and CEO of the Rail Deliver Group, said:

This is another important step in making it easier for customers to travel by train. Extending tap-in-tap-out to a further 50 stations will mean even more rail customers can benefit from this technology, knowing they will always pay the right fare at the right price. The rail industry is committed to working with government to improve and enhance the overall experience for our customers.

Greater Anglia’s Managing Director, Martin Beable, said:

We are pleased to be introducing pay-as-you-go contactless ticketing for passengers travelling to Stansted Airport and Southend Airport using the Stansted Express or Greater Anglia’s fast, frequent, and reliable services.
Alongside our modern fleet of trains and ongoing station improvements, expanding pay-as-you-go contactless ticketing helps us continue to make train travel more convenient, accessible and attractive for everyone.

The expansion comes as the government is delivering the biggest overhaul of the railways in a generation through the creation of GBR, which will help to deliver better, more modern services for passengers and simpler fares across the network.
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.

Stations introducing pay-as-you-go​

Ashtead
Aylesbury
Aylesbury Vale Parkway
Baldock
Beaulieu Park
Billericay
Bishop’s Stortford
Box Hill & Westhumble
Chelmsford
Dorking (Main)
Dormans
East Grinstead
Great Missenden
Harlington
Harlow Mill
Harlow Town
Hatfield Peverel
Hitchin
Hockley
Hurst Green
Ingatestone
Knebworth
Leagrave
Leatherhead
Letchworth Garden City
Lingfield
Little Kimble
Luton
Monks Risborough
Oxted
Princes Risborough
Prittlewell
Rayleigh
Reigate
Rochford
Roydon
Saunderton
Sawbridgeworth
Southend Airport
Southend Victoria
Stansted Airport
Stansted Mountfitchet
Stevenage
Stoke Mandeville
Watton-at-Stone
Welwyn North
Wendover
Wickford
Witham
Woldingham

Published 17 November 2025

Lots of stuff about paying the right fare at the right price and not needing to buy paper travelcards despite the fact that there will be loads of anomalies for many users.

 

[CyrusWuff]

The DfT Press Release confirming the launch date of 14th December has now been published.

Simpler train travel to London airports as tap-in, tap-out expanded across south-east England

Buying tickets will be more convenient, more accessible and more flexible, ensuring passengers can get the best fares.

• easier travel for holiday makers with tap-in tap-out technology installed at Stansted and Southend Airport stations before Christmas
• ticketing modernised at 50 stations across south-east England, thanks to £18.7 million of government funding
• rollout comes as the government establishes Great British Railways, which will ultimately simplify fares and ticketing

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.

 

[Edvid]

Within the article it also says "more stations to follow next year", without specifying what stations they are. Even 14 months after they first announced the vast majority of Phase 2A it seems they're still undecided on the exact makeup of what follows it.

 

[JonathanH]

Within the article it also says "more stations to follow next year", without specifying what stations they are. Even 14 months after they first announced the vast majority of Phase 2A it seems they're still undecided on the exact makeup of what follows it.

I'd imagine they want to see the experience of this latest batch before deciding how far to go. It looks like the Woking / Guildford corridor and the Medway / Maidstone / Tonbridge routes are the routes nearest London without it.