GREATER Anglia will reopen 26 station ticket offices for limited hours after being temporarily closed over the last five weeks.

Hockley, Prittlewell, Rayleigh, Rochford, South Woodham Ferrers and Wickford are among the stations where ticket offices will be back in action from next week.

The ticket offices will open for the morning peak period and the busier stations additionally for the evening peak.

Greater Anglia has put in a range of measures to help staff and customers maintain social distancing at stations, and also increased the train service so there are longer and more frequent trains.

Customers using the ticket office or ticket machines at the station are asked to use contactless payment.

Martin Moran, the Greater Anglia commercial and customer service director, said: “Government advice remains to avoid public transport. We want to keep our railway safe for essential travel, such as journeys made by key workers.

“We’ve introduced a range of measures to make it easier for staff and customers to comply with social distancing.

“As we expect a slight increase in passenger numbers over the weeks ahead, we’ve decided to re-open these ticket offices to reduce queues for ticket machines, for people who cannot buy their tickets online or by using the Greater Anglia app.

“The opening hours will remain under review and we shall be monitoring ticket sales at the re-opened ticket offices.”