Northern rail services to trial digital ticketing in Yorkshire
The government is to trial digital ticketing for rail services in parts of Yorkshire from the autumn.The trials will see GPS technology track train journeys to ensure passengers pay the best fare for their journey, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.Rail users can sign up for the scheme in advance, with initial trials taking place on Northern services between Harrogate and Leeds, Sheffield and Barnsley, and Sheffield and Doncaster.They will begin between September and November and run for nine months..
The government said digital ticketing was part of its plan to overhaul the railways ahead of the creation of Great British Railways, which will be the state-owned company operating the UK's rail infrastructure.Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy said: "Contactless ticketing is making journeys easier to navigate for millions of passengers, and now our digital trials are actively recruiting volunteers to help expand this technology across Yorkshire."
'Shaping the future'
Unlike the previous roll-out of pay-as-you-go, which uses contactless payment at barriers, these trials will use GPS technology to track people's location throughout their train journey.Up to 1,000 passengers will be able to take part on each route of the trials, meaning 3,000 passengers across Yorkshire in total.People can sign up via Northern's website.Alex Hornby from Northern said the trial marked a step forward in simplifying rail travel."By trialling pay-as-you-go technology on some of our routes, we're helping to shape a future where hopping on a train is as easy as checking in and out," he said.A trial will also be taking place in the East Midlands, operated by East Midlands Railway (EMR), running between Leicester, Derby and Nottingham.Contactless ticketing has been trialled at 53 stations across the south-east of England, with more than two million entries and exits recorded.The DfT is also working with operators in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands to further expand the scheme.
Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds or catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
US warplanes transit through UK as Trump considers striking Iran
Flight tracking data shows extensive movement of US military aircraft towards the Middle East in recent days, including via the UK. Fifty-two US military planes were spotted flying over the eastern Mediterranean towards the Middle East between Monday and Thursday. That includes at least 25 that passed through Chania airport, on the Greek island of Crete - an eight-fold increase in the rate of arrivals compared to the first half of June. The movement of military equipment comes as the US considers whether to assist Israel in its conflict with Iran. Of the 52 planes spotted over the eastern Mediterranean, 32 are used for transporting troops or cargo, 18 are used for mid-air refuelling and two are reconnaissance planes. Forbes McKenzie, founder of McKenzie Intelligence, says that this indicates "the build-up of warfighting capability, which was not [in the region] before". Sky's data does not include fighter jets, which typically fly without publicly revealing their location. An air traffic control recording from Wednesday suggests that F-22 Raptors are among the planes being sent across the Atlantic, while 12 F-35 fighter jets were photographed travelling from the UK to the Middle East on Wednesday. Many US military planes are passing through UK A growing number of US Air Force planes have been passing through the UK in recent days. Analysis of flight tracking data at three key air bases in the UK shows 63 US military flights landing between 16 and 19 June - more than double the rate of arrivals earlier in June. On Thursday, Sky News filmed three US military C-17A Globemaster III transport aircraft and a C-130 Hercules military cargo plane arriving at Glasgow's Prestwick Airport. Flight tracking data shows that one of the planes arrived from an air base in Jordan, having earlier travelled there from Germany. What does Israel need from US? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on 15 March that his country's aim is to remove "two existential threats - the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat". Israel says that Iran is attempting to develop a nuclear bomb, though Iran says its nuclear facilities are only for civilian energy purposes. A US intelligence assessment in March concluded that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon. President Trump dismissed the assessment on Tuesday, saying: "I think they were very close to having one." Forbes McKenzie says the Americans have a "very similar inventory of weapons systems" to the Israelis, "but of course, they also have the much-talked-about GBU-57". The GBU-57 is a 30,000lb bomb - the largest non-nuclear bomb in existence. Mr McKenzie explains that it is "specifically designed to destroy targets which are very deep underground". Experts say it is the only weapon with any chance of destroying Iran's main enrichment site, which is located underneath a mountain at Fordow. Air-to-air refuelling could allow Israel to carry larger bombs Among the dozens of US aircraft that Sky News tracked over the eastern Mediterranean in recent days, more than a third (18 planes) were designed for air-to-air refuelling. "These are crucial because Israel is the best part of a thousand miles away from Iran," says Sky News military analyst Sean Bell. "Most military fighter jets would struggle to do those 2,000-mile round trips and have enough combat fuel." The ability to refuel mid-flight would also allow Israeli planes to carry heavier munitions, including bunker-buster bombs necessary to destroy the tunnels and silos where Iran stores many of its missiles. Satellite imagery captured on 15 June shows the aftermath of Israeli strikes on a missile facility near the western city of Kermanshah, which destroyed at least 12 buildings at the site. At least four tunnel entrances were also damaged in the strikes, two of which can be seen in the image below. Writing for Jane's Defence Weekly, military analyst Jeremy Binnie says it looked like the tunnels were "targeted using guided munitions coming in at angles, not destroyed from above using penetrator bombs, raising the possibility that the damage can be cleared, enabling any [missile launchers] trapped inside to deploy". "This might reflect the limited payloads that Israeli aircraft can carry to Iran," he adds. Penetrator bombs, also known as bunker-busters, are much heavier than other types of munitions and as a result require more fuel to transport. Israel does not have the latest generation of refuelling aircraft, Mr Binnie says, meaning it is likely to struggle to deploy a significant number of penetrator bombs. Israel has struck most of Iran's western missile bases Even without direct US assistance, the Israeli air force has managed to inflict significant damage on Iran's missile launch capacity. Sky News has confirmed Israeli strikes on at least five of Iran's six known missile bases in the west of the country. On Monday, the IDF said that its strategy of targeting western launch sites had forced Iran to rely on its bases in the centre of the country, such as Isfahan - around 1,500km (930 miles) from Israel. Among Iran's most advanced weapons are three types of solid-fuelled rockets fitted with highly manoeuvrable warheads: Fattah-1, Kheibar Shekan and Haj Qassam. The use of solid fuel makes these missiles easy to transport and fast to launch, while their manoeuvrable warheads make them better at evading Israeli air defences. However, none of them are capable of striking Israel from such a distance. Iran is known to possess five types of missile capable of travelling more than 1,500km, but only one of these uses solid fuel - the Sijjil-1. On 18 June, Iran claimed to have used this missile against Israel for the first time. Iran's missiles have caused significant damage Iran's missile attacks have killed at least 24 people in Israel and wounded hundreds, according to the Israeli foreign ministry. The number of air raid alerts in Israel has topped 1,000 every day since the start of hostilities, reaching a peak of 3,024 on 15 June. Iran has managed to strike some government buildings, including one in the city of Haifa on Friday. And on 13 June, in Iran's most notable targeting success so far, an Iranian missile impacted on or near the headquarters of Israel's defence ministry in Tel Aviv. Most of the Iranian strikes verified by Sky News, however, have hit civilian targets. These include residential buildings, a school and a university. On Thursday, one missile hit the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, southern Israel's main hospital. More than 70 people were injured, according to Israel's health ministry. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that Iran had struck a nearby technology park containing an IDF cyber defence training centre, and that the "blast wave caused superficial damage to a small section" of the hospital. However, the technology park is in fact 1.2km away from where the missile struck. Photos of the hospital show evidence of a direct hit, with a large section of one building's roof completely destroyed. Iran successfully struck the technology park on Friday, though its missile fell in an open area, causing damage to a nearby residential building but no casualties. Israel has killed much of Iran's military leadership It's not clear exactly how many people Israel's strikes in Iran have killed, or how many are civilians. Estimates by human rights groups of the total number of fatalities exceed 600. What is clear is that among the military personnel killed are many key figures in the Iranian armed forces, including the military's chief of staff, deputy head of intelligence and deputy head of operations. Key figures in the powerful Revolutionary Guard have also been killed, including the militia's commander-in-chief, its aerospace force commander and its air defences commander. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that US assistance was not necessary for Israel to win the war. "We will achieve all our objectives and hit all of their nuclear facilities," he said. "We have the capability to do that." 3:49 Forbes McKenzie says that while Israel has secured significant victories in the war so far, "they only have so much fuel, they only have so many munitions". "The Americans have an ability to keep up the pace of operations that the Israelis have started, and they're able to do it for an indefinite period of time." Additional reporting by data journalist Joely Santa Cruz and OSINT producers Freya Gibson, Lina-Sirine Zitout and Sam Doak.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Summer solstice celebrations begin as parts of UK faces 34C heat on longest day of year
Update: Date: 02:55 BST Title: A303 temporarily closed Content: Sammy JenkinsBBC News, Live page reporter The A303 has been closed in both directions near Stonehenge due to a high volume of vehicles parked on the side of the road and pedestrians on the carriageway. Wiltshire Police said the road is closed between the A360 at Longbarrow Roundabout and Countess Roundabout, Amesbury. "The closure will be kept under review," it said. Motorists are being told to use an alternative route via Countess Road and through Larkhill. "We would like to remind motorists to drive safely and cautiously due to the increased risk of pedestrians walking in the road," it added. Update: Date: 02:50 BST Title: Does the summer solstice mark the start of summer? Content: One of the many places last year's summer solstice was marked was the Light Pyramid in Milton Keynes To answer this, let's look at the two ways the start and end of seasons are defined. One is the astronomical seasons, which are based on the position of the Earth in relation to the Sun. The astronomical summer is often marked as beginning on the summer solstice. The Met Office says this year, astronomers are marking summer as starting today and ending on 22 September - but the dates shift slightly each year. Meteorological seasons are another way of defining the start and end of seasons. They're based on the annual temperature cycle and are split into four quarters made up of three months each - a more consistent way that makes it easier to compare seasonal statistics. This means meteorologists always class the northern hemisphere's summer as being from 1 June to 31 August. So, is today the start of summer? It depends on whether you're asking an astronomer or a meteorologist. Update: Date: 02:45 BST Title: It's the longest day of the year - and one of the hottest Content: Good morning, and if you're up in the middle of the night joining us, thank you, you have a very long day ahead - literally. Today marks the summer solstice, the longest day and shortest night of the year, and as you read this thousands of people will be gathering at sites around the UK to mark the start of the astronomical summer. We're up nice and early (or very late, dependent on your view point) for you, with reporters at Stonehenge, the Avebury Stone Circle and Glastonbury Tor. There's a good chance if you are reading this in the middle of the night you're struggling to sleep in the heat - and it's expected to continue today, with temperatures of up to 34C and a yellow warning for thunderstorms.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The popular tourist destination where Brits will get the best exchange rate
It feels like it's getting more and more expensive to go abroad, and many Brits are really feeling the pinch when it comes to their holidays. But there's a popular tourist hotspot where your pound will stretch further than anywhere else. Post Office Travel Money's Holiday Spending Report looked at how sterling is performing against its 30 bestselling currencies compared with 12 and three months ago. It reveals that visitors to Turkey from the UK will get the most for their money, due to the ongoing, long-term collapse of the Turkish lira. Over the past three months, the lira has fallen by 12.9 per cent against the pound. And, compared with last June, visitors can now expect to receive around £116 (+30.2 per cent) more when they buy £500 worth of lira. The report also reveals the sterling has bounced back against the US dollar and is currently 6.6 per cent stronger than it was a year ago, and has gained 4.9 per cent in the past three months. For £500, tourists will now receive almost £31 more of US dollars, than they would a year ago. The report also reveals the sterling has bounced back against the US dollar and is currently 6.6 per cent stronger than it was a year ago, but Brits are turning their back on the States Despite this bang for your buck, the report found that many Brits are turning away from travelling to the States. Over half (53 per cent) of those surveyed said they'd actively avoid destinations where they think President Donald Trump's tariffs could affect resort prices, and 39 per cent said they categorically will not travel to the States. But those not wanting to go to the US can still benefit from the dollar recovery, as it extends to the Caribbean and Middle East currencies pegged to the dollar. It means Brits planning trips to Barbados, Antigua, Dubai, and other long-haul holiday favourites will get more for their pounds. Meanwhile, holidaymakers rated Spain (41 per cent), Turkey (35 per cent) and Thailand (31 per cent) best value for money out of 39 worldwide destinations. However, the report found the Thai baht was one of only five of the 30 bestselling currencies to rise in value against sterling. A sterling year-on-year fall of 5.2 per cent means that British visitors will get £27.64 fewer Thai baht on a typical £500 currency transaction. Given that almost half (48 per cent) of holidaymakers said they will choose their destination based on the strength of sterling, two other Far Eastern destinations – Vietnam and Bali - will actually offer Brits more for their money. Visitors to Vietnam will get the equivalent of £42.01 – or 9.2 per cent extra - on a £500 purchase of Vietnamese dong. Those choosing Bali, fourth-placed in the barometer, can expect around £33 (7.1 per cent) more in Indonesian rupiah than a year ago. Laura Plunkett, Head of Travel Money at Post Office, said: 'This year's holiday spending research again demonstrates that holidaymakers don't always set a realistic budget and overspend by large amounts as a result. 'It's great to hear that holidaymakers are already planning to budget more for their holidays this year, to avoid coming unstuck when they arrive at their destination.'
