London train travel: Full list of 53 commuter town stations to go contactless

More than 50 train stations in the southeast will benefit from tap-in tap-out ticketing by the end of the year.

Passengers commuting to London from areas from Shepperton to Shoeburyness will experience simpler, more flexible and better value train travel once the scheme is introduced.

A total of 53 stations were named in the first phase but more than 200 will be converted over the coming years.

Pay As You Go is already available at over 350 stations across London and the south east stretching from Reading and Gatwick Airport all the way to Shenfield and Welwyn Garden City.

The announcement will see pay as you go readers installed in stations serving C2C, Southeastern, South Western Railway, London Northwestern and Chiltern lines.

The £20m project funded by the Department for Transport is being rolled out to encourage more people to use the railways.

On Wednesday the Rail Delivery Group also announced plans to close hundreds of station ticket offices across England over the next three years.

This is part of the government’s plans to “modernise” the British railway.

Rail Minister Huw Merriman said: “One of the best ways to get more people using our railways is to make journeys as simple, flexible and convenient as possible and the Government’s programme for rail reform prioritises exactly that.

“By removing the stress of finding the best deal in advance or having the right ticket ready to go at the barriers, the extension of tap-in tap-out ticketing is the next step of our plan for rail reform and we’re working towards Pay As You Go being rolled out beyond the SouthEast through the Midlands and up to the North.”

Pay As You Go is widely used across London and the surrounding area with Transport for London (TfL) data showing that more than 75% of all Tube and rail pay as you go journeys are regularly made using contactless payment cards or mobile devices, compared to 25% in 2016.

Pay As You Go ticketing will be available at all of these stations by the end of December with individual openings dependent on the amount of existing technology at the stations. Further information on when each station will be introducing this will be available at each station.

Full list of stations which will have pay as you go technology by the end of this year:

• Basildon
• West Horndon
• Sevenoaks
• Bletchley
• Benfleet
• Westcliff
• Shoreham (Kent)
• Bricket Wood
• Chalkwell
• Beaconsfield
• Ashford (Surrey)
• Cheddington
• East Tilbury
• Denham
• Datchet
• Garston
• Laindon
• Denham Golf Club
• Egham
• Hemel Hempstead
• Leigh-on-Sea
• Gerrards Cross
• Kempton Park
• How Wood
• Pitsea
• High Wycombe
• Shepperton
• Kings Langley
• Shoeburyness
• Seer Green & Jordans
• Staines
• Leighton Buzzard
• Southend Central
• Bat & Ball
• Sunbury
• Park Street
• Southend East
• Dunton Green
• Sunnymeads
• St Albans Abbey
• Stanford-le-Hope
• Eynsford
• Upper Halliford
• Tring
• Thorpe Bay
• Otford
• Virginia Water
• Watford North
• Tilbury Town
• Windsor & Eton Riverside
• Wraysbury
• Apsley
• Berkhamsted