All the Hampshire railway ticket offices are set to close under new proposals by South Western Railway (SWR).

The announcement comes after the Railway Delivery Group revealed plans to close hundreds of ticket offices nationwide due to passenger numbers falling to their lowest since 2002. 

SWR has confirmed that they plan to close all ticket offices and will instead introduce 'more face-to-face support' for railway passengers. 

Instead of a ticket office, there will be a team of staff in each station to help customers from journey planning to ticket purchasing.

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These proposals will see the Winchester ticket office close but the station is set to be manned by staff for a longer time period under the new proposals. 

Winchester ticket office is open from 6am until 8.30pm on weekdays, under the new plans the station will be staffed from 5.30am until 11pm. 

At the weekend, the office is open from 6am until 7.30pm on Saturdays, and 7am until 8.30pm on Sundays. 

SWR is planning on staffing the station for longer at weekends too, with staff manning Winchester from 5.30am until 11pm on Saturdays, and from 6am until 10pm on Sundays. 

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Romsey station is set to be unstaffed Sundays and Mondays under the new proposals, despite the fact the ticket office is open from 6.50am until 1.30pm Monday to Saturday. 

Under the new plans, SWR will only staff Romsey Station from 6am until 10am Tuesday to Friday, and on Saturdays, it will be staffed from 9am until 1pm. 

Micheldever's ticket office is only open from 6.20am until 9.05am Monday to Friday, and under new plans, the station will be staffed from 6am until 10am Tuesday to Friday, and 9am until 1pm on Saturdays.

Railway stations in Shawford and Mottisfont Dundridge are both unstaffed and there are no plans by SWR to staff these stations in the future. 

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Claire Mann, Managing Director, South Western Railway, said: "In developing our proposal to modernise and update our stations, we’ve focused on delivering improvements for our customers, while also recognising that our people are the key to doing so.

"Our station colleagues play a vital role in delivering a positive customer experience. This proposal recognises their talent and dedication by opening up opportunities for career progression and comprehensive re-skilling.

“By multi-skilling our colleagues, we can offer a customer service that aligns with what customers actually want and need, in line with their expectations from modern retailing.

“Technology has already enabled significant change at our stations, with 75 per cent of passenger journeys made using smart media today. Our proposal simply seeks to build on these existing trends.

“We are consulting widely on our proposals and welcome feedback to help ensure a smooth transition to a more modern, customer focussed experience at our stations.”

Full details of SWR’s station change proposals can be found at southwesternrailway.com/stationchange and customers have until 26 July to comment on the proposals via Transport Focus or London TravelWatch.