Travellers to London's Stansted and Southend airports will be able to use contactless payment for train tickets from 14 December.
The change means passengers can tap in and tap out at all London airports, making rail connections simpler ahead of the Christmas travel period. The 6.7 million annual passengers using Stansted Airport will no longer need to book tickets in advance.
The expansion forms part of ongoing work to modernise Britain's rail ticketing system. Digital pay-as-you-go trials are already running in several cities, including Barnsley, Derby, Doncaster, Harrogate, Leeds, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield.
The developments are linked to plans for Great British Railways (GBR), which aims to make rail fares more convenient and accessible. Other stations introducing modernised ticketing include those operated by Greater Anglia, such as Beaulieu Park and Chelmsford.
The contactless system allows passengers to pay for journeys using bank cards or mobile devices, removing the need to purchase tickets from machines or ticket offices beforehand.
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