Lord Adonis blast train companies over Oyster cards

He criticised train companies who have so far failed to agree to sell the transport cards and promised to intervene to speed up the roll-out.

The Cabinet minister said commuters must be able to purchase or top up Oyster cards at railway stations in the same way they can at Tube stations.

Speaking at an Evening Standard/London First transport debate last night, the peer said: "Oyster is potentially revolutionary. Of course, you should be able to buy Oyster cards at stations. We need to sort that out."

He also called for more staff at stations, particularly to ensure that rail passengers get better information when there are disruptions.

Today Baroness Valentine, chief executive of business group London First, backed the minister's call for Oyster cards to be more easily available.

"We have spent years convincing rail companies and politicians that widening the scope of Oyster to include overground trains would be worth the hassle," she said.

"But I can't understand why Oysters can't be bought and topped up at every station in and around the capital. It's common sense."

Before tomorrow's announcement of the planned route for a new high-speed rail link in Britain, Lord Adonis signalled he is braced for a backlash from environmentalists and some communities on the line which is expected to go through the Chilterns and possibly other beauty areas.

"It will only be possible to get through the very difficult planning and funding issues if there is a broad national consensus."

Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker hinted that the Tories were refusing to be part of a political agreement on the high-speed plans.

The Conservatives turned down an offer to view the Government's high speed rail plans.
Explaining her party's stance, shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said she did not want "some cosy deal reached behind closed doors which closes out the communities that may be affected by the route".

The Transport Secretary also argued that "incremental expansion" of Heathrow airport with a third runway could be achieved without breaching air quality and noise limits.

But the Tories and Lib-Dems repeated their opposition to the plans on environmental and public health grounds.

Ms Villiers refused to back Boris Johnson's plans for an estuary airport and while expressing support for Crossrail, did not guarantee that a Tory government would fund it to open in 2017 according to schedule.