Following the practice on the national railways, during the next few months, the Severn Valley Railway is to carry out a trial of scanners by travelling ticket inspectors.
By using the ticket scanners, passengers will benefit in that there will be no need for passengers with pre-booked tickets to check in at the booking office before travelling, as is the current practice.
The Severn Valley Railway recognises that some passengers like to keep the traditional Edmondson tickets as a souvenir, and for some people they are an important part of their heritage experience.
For that reason, passengers will still be able to purchase them from booking offices.
This will vastly improve their experience with us.
‘ewis Maddox, Severn Valley Railway visitor engagement manager
The decision to introduce a trial of ticket scanning is because feedback from visitors has shown that they don’t want to queue when they arrive for their journeys on the railway.
With the new, ‘fast track’ process, passengers will have more time to relax or visit the gift shop and refreshment room before their train departs.
Provided that the trials are successful, the Severn Valley Railway expects to introduce ticket scanning on all services in 2025.
At the end of June and beginning of July, the Severn Valley Railway held a special event to remember the 1940s, and last month it held celebrations to mark 40 years since it opened its southern terminus at Kidderminster,
This will vastly improve their experience with us. They won’t need to queue, and it will improve the experience for on-the-day ticket purchasers because the queues will be much shorter.
For some years, around 50% of our visitors have pre-booked their tickets online and either received a travel ticket in the post or an e-ticket via email. The requirement for them to queue again on arrival has led, at times, to excessive waits and a less-than-positive first impression, despite the best efforts of our staff.
Gathering data from scanning will allow us to better plan our working timetables, to provide capacity to meet demand, and to effectively manage operating costs. Scanning will, for the first time ever, provide us with accurate information as to who travels on our trains and when.
Lewis Maddox, Severn Valley Railway visitor engagement manager
Responses
I suggest that you read the article again. The SVR is not abandoning Edmonson tickets and that is clearly stated.
There goes history. The Edmondson system of ticketing, going back to the 19th century is still religiously used by some of the station booking offices. I see this dying sadly.
The SVR needs to decide if it’s custodian of a wonderful piece of industrial/transport heritage or a theme park.