Fears that Ipswich railway station's ticket office could be closed have been dismissed by Greater Anglia who have pointed out it is one of the busiest on the network.

The government is carrying out a study into the future of rail ticket offices across the country as part of its reorganisation of the industry following the collapse of the franchising model in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

There has been speculation that this could eventually lead to the closure of all ticket offices across the country as more passengers buy tickets online or from machines.

Ticket offices on the London Underground were closed several years ago with most stations having barriers installed and payment by credit or Oyster cards.

Some ticket offices run by train companies have closed or had their hours cut in recent years but a spokeswoman for Greater Anglia said Ipswich's had recently been moved to a new site in the station.

She said: “There are no plans to shut Ipswich station’s ticket office, which is currently one of Greater Anglia’s busier ticket offices in terms of sales.”

The speculation about the future of the ticket office started with the government announcement of a review - and because of fears of major cuts to rail jobs that has helped to fuel the recent increase in the amount of industrial action across the rail network.

Although the government is keen to encourage travellers to use online or machine ticket purchases there are some types of ticket that can only be bought at an office.

These include rover tickets like Anglia Plus and some child tickets which are sold at a significant discount.

And the whole future of the rail industry is expected to come under review again over the next few months as the Sunak government looks again at the plans to create Great British Railways and re-order the relationship between the government and the companies actually providing rail services.