Stansted Airport railway station to accept London-style contactless payments

Another 45 railway stations, including Stansted Airport, have been shortlisted for the next expansion of London-style contactless payments.

Warning signs at the Stansted Express gateline at Liverpool Street station (c) ianVisits

The inclusion of Stansted Airport’s railway station was already expected to happen eventually, but it is notable because of the large number of passengers who have tried to use contactless payments there, assuming it already worked and have been caught out.

After all, with London in the name, it’s easy to understand why people assume London Stansted accepts London-style travel payments.

The transport watchdog London TravelWatch had previously said that in 2019, some 16,000 people had been handed penalty fares at the airport’s railway station after arriving without a paper ticket. They said that this was a similar situation to the one at Gatwick Airport before Oyster/Contactless acceptance was expanded south of London.

Since then there have been attempts to reduce accidental travel without a paper ticket, such as large warning signs by the ticket barrier at Liverpool Street station and plenty of audio announcements on the trains, but people are still being caught out.

Now, the Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed that Stansted Airport station will be included in the next phase of its Project Oval expansion of contactless payments in the southeast of England.

The £27 million rollout, called Project Oval, is being funded by the DfT and carried out by TfL with in-station validation equipment carried out by Cubic Transportation Systems, who already provide the same kit to TfL.

The expansion will not include Oyster cards as the Oyster technology is now too old, just the newer bank card-based contactless payments. That mirrors how the Elizabeth line was extended to Reading, with Oyster only working as far as the edge of Zone 6, after which only bank card contactless will work.

Eventually, 230 stations across the southeast will accept contactless payments, 53 in the first phase, of which 47 stations will go live later this month. The second phase, for which the DfT has shortlisted 45 stations, will go live next year.

In the current rollout, contactless payments won’t accept concession fares or railcards, but the intention is to add those later.

The list of the next 45 stations to be included in the rollout:

Chiltern Railways

  • Aylesbury
  • Aylesbury Vale Parkway
  • Great Missenden
  • Little Kimble
  • Monks Risborough
  • Princes Risborough
  • Saunderton
  • Stoke Mandeville
  • Wendover

Greater Anglia

  • Billericay
  • Bishop’s Stortford
  • Chelmsford
  • Harlow Mill
  • Harlow Town
  • Hatfield Peverel
  • Hockley
  • Ingatestone
  • London Southend Airport
  • Prittlewell
  • Rayleigh
  • Rochford
  • Roydon
  • Sawbridgeworth
  • Southend Victoria
  • Stansted Airport
  • Stansted Mountfitchet
  • Wickford
  • Witham

Great Northern

  • Knebworth
  • Watton-at-Stone
  • Welwyn North

Thameslink

  • Harlington
  • Leagrave
  • Luton

Southern

  • Ashtead
  • Box Hill & Westhumble
  • Dorking (Main)
  • Dormans
  • East Grinstead
  • Hurst Green
  • Leatherhead
  • Lingfield
  • Oxted
  • Reigate
  • Woldingham

Some stations are served by multiple operators — have listed them by GTR management.