TRAIN users in Ulverston could soon buy their tickets from a touch screen ticket machine in a bid to modernise station facilities.

Plans have been put forward to install a ticket vending machine (TVM) in platform one at Ulverston Station.

Currently, train users have to use a ticket machine within the station to purchase fares.

However, Ulverston Town Councillor Mark Wilson, said a digitised machine was the ‘face of the future’.

“This is the future for a lot of town stations,” he said.

“And it should be seen as a welcome step forward for our train station.”

Cllr Wilson hopes the digital vending machines do not replace the staffed ticketed offices.

He said: “These machines are not to replace the staffed ticket offices which are so very important to regular rail users.

“A lot of railway users enjoy and look forward to that social interaction.”

As well as propelling Ulverston station into the modern age, the machine will also help ensure rail users pay for a ticket before their journey, says Cllr Wilson.

“New rules mean that rail travellers have to carry a ticket for their journey or at the machine they can collect a ‘promise to pay’ ticket," he said.

“We are one of the last areas to get this system. It is designed to ensure that rail travellers pay or promise to pay for a ticket.

“Rail fare collection has been poor in the recent past, sometimes as low as 80 per cent, so hopefully a machine on the platform will encourage users to purchase one before their journey.

Plans for the digital machine have been submitted to South Lakeland District Council.