Queues at train ticket offices could be a thing of the past under a scheme launched in London today.

Instead of a paper ticket, commuters will be able to offer their mobile phones for inspection instead. Passengers will be able to buy and receive their tickets using their phones.

Fifty passengers have been selected to test the system for two months which will then be offered to all travellers using Chiltern Railways. The mobile can also be scanned by a special "reader" on the ticket barrier to open the gate. A spokeswoman described the system as "completely secure".

Brian Cooke, chairman of London TravelWatch, said: "Any scheme which enables passengers to have an easier and faster journey has to be applauded.

"It will be interesting to see the results of the trial but the potential is there for much wider use across the national network." Chiltern runs services from Marylebone to Birmingham and to Aylesbury, Kidderminster and Stratford-upon-Avon.

David Whitley, Chiltern's marketing planning manager, said: "We understand that our passengers want a secure and easy way to purchase their tickets on the go.

"This technology means our passengers will be able to buy a ticket securely from their mobile and receive it in seconds."

He added: "As the majority of our passengers carry mobile phones this really does mean they will be able to walk up and travel anywhere, any time." The scheme has been launched in conjunction with security applications company Masabi.

Ben Whitaker, co-founder and head of security development, said: "We have developed a completely secure way to perform transactions on a mobile phone."

The software "sets up a secure session to sign up a new user, a new credit card and make a transaction". He said the system would apply "across virtually all handsets in current use."

• 

  Sex, lies and the Stasi

  On this day in 1989 the Berlin Wall was finally breached, ending the reign of East Germany’s feared security service. Here Anne McElvoy, who spent much of the Eighties in the city, recalls her encounters with the spooks

  ---

• 

  The geeky-girl solo artists descending on the music scene

  Kookiness is what sells music these days and these opinionated artists have it in spades, says Jasmine Gardner

  ---

Why Sam's in the clear over that M&S dress

At last the truth about the M&S spotted dress that Sam Cam wore to the Conservative Party Conference

All stories