WAITING room closures are among new measures introduced at Northern railway stations to curb the spread of coronavirus.

All gatelines at stations managed by Northern are now fully open, the operator said, meaning passengers do not have to pass paper or season tickets through the barriers or present them to staff.

Northern has also suspended the issuing of penalty fares until further notice.

Passengers will still require a ticket to travel and should buy before they board from stations, ticket machines and online via the web.

Northern is only accepting card payments.

Passengers can only pay by cash at at a small number of ticket machines said a company spokesman in the announcement on Thursday.