Major rail companies take a slice of £20 million Oyster pie

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Two major rail operators have signed up to take advantage a £20 million Oyster card technology funding programme within the past week.

But Chiltern Railways and c2c may be alone in their enthusiasm as other players are running out of time to meet the January 31 deadline to apply for financial support.

Mayor of London Ken Livingston offered the money to train operators in May last year with the aim of financing the installation of card readers and other equipment to run Transport for London's pay-as-you-go swipe card system within travel zones one through six.

Today, Chiltern announced that all its stations within greater London will soon offer Oyster prepay capabilities, including four new locations: Northolt Park, Sudbury and Harrow Road, Sudbury Hill Harrow and Wembley Stadium.

Similarly, just last week, c2c, which is part of the National Express Group, announced that the Oyster system, which is already available at stations between Fenchurch Street and Upminster, will be extended to Dagenham Dock and Rainham later this year.

The railway operator is also planning to extend Oyster services on its lines outside London - to Purfleet, Grays, Chafford Hundred and Ockendon - by the summer of 2008.

"We very much welcome the convenience that Oyster offers our customers and are pleased to be at the forefront of its development on national rail in and beyond the greater London area," said c2c Managing Director Mark Hopwood.

The railways' pledges are yet another success for the Oyster card. In the three years since its launch, over 10 million Oyster cards have been distributed and now, just five per cent of tube and bus journeys are paid for with cash.

Other industry players are also backing the prepay route, with Visa Europe and Barclaycard announcing plans in December last year to launch a touch-and-go payment card tied to the Oyster network.

"This is extremely good news and will bring real benefits to the commuters who use these services," said Ken Livingston last week.

Following today's Chiltern announcement, he added: "This clearly shows that there is no justifiable reason why other train operating companies should not also adopt Oyster and accept my offer to pay them £20 million to install Oyster equipment."

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