Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to extend contactless payments to additional train stations in Essex.

We have committed to expanding Pay As You Go (PAYG) contactless ticketing to further stations in the South East, with six stations on the Chiltern railways line having already gone live in June. This expansion will include the entire c2c network and the 19 stations operated by Greater Anglia in Essex, where passengers will benefit from a better ticketing offer.

Unfortunately, this expansion has been delayed due to the cyber-attack at Transport for London (TfL). TfL are delivering necessary security measures, and the rail industry is working at pace to reschedule the launch, an update will be provided in due course.