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Cubic unlocks ‘the key’ to Southern Railway

The UK’s Southern Railway has extended the use of its ‘the key’ smartcard across the entire Oyster network in London. Passengers on the Southern rail franchise can now use the single smart card from most stations to travel by rail, bus and Tube across the capital. Supplied by Cubic Transportation Systems, ‘the key’ was first trialled in November 2011 on Southern’s Brighton to Seaford line. It was subsequently rolled out across most of their network for journeys outside the Oyster network and those termin
September 26, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The UK’s Southern Railway has extended the use of its ‘the key’ smartcard across the entire Oyster network in London. Passengers on the 4271 Southern rail franchise can now use the single smart card from most stations to travel by rail, bus and Tube across the capital.

Supplied by Cubic Transportation Systems, ‘the key’ was first trialled in November 2011 on Southern’s Brighton to Seaford line. It was subsequently rolled out across most of their network for journeys outside the Oyster network and those terminating at mainline stations in London.

Passengers have the option to upload their Travelcards to the smart card, rather than using a paper ticket. The functionality extends to the majority of ticket types including season, returns and Travelcards, available on most of the Southern network outside the London boundary.

Roger Crow, senior vice president and managing director of Cubic Transportation Systems’ European operations said, “We are delighted that this project has come to fruition. Users of ‘the key’ card can access the entire Oyster network in London now that Travelcards have been added. What started as a limited scheme has become completely integrated into the existing Oyster network. We fully support Southern’s other new and innovative products which show how versatile the ITSO cards can be. We are proud that this teamwork-based approach sets the standard for the way to design, implement and deploy ITSO rail schemes across the country.”

Southern’s commercial director Alex Foulds said, “We are delighted that our vision has now become a reality. It’s fantastic news for thousands of our London commuters who can now use their ‘key’ smart card for their entire journey to and from work. We have worked very closely with the Department of Transport in developing this new product and the commitment shown by 1466 Transport for London and our suppliers has been crucial in making this the success that it is.”

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