Train passengers to be tracked by GPS to stop ticket fraud

So, we actually are being tracked?

That's right, new technology is being rolled out by East Midlands Railway (EMR) that will track when passengers enter and leave train stations, automatically working out their fares.

Similar to London's Oyster card system, travellers will tap in and out with Trainline's computer systems calculating their fare.

Government officials have insisted that the technology will give 'the best-value fare on the day', while a spokesman for Trainline added that 'daily and weekly caps' would be in place, ensuring that commuters would not overpay.

Rail minister Lord Hendy said: “The railway ticketing system is far too complicated and long overdue an upgrade to bring it into the 21st century.

“Through these trials we’re doing just that, and making buying tickets more convenient, more accessible, and more flexible.

“By putting passenger experience at the heart of our decision-making we’re modernising fares and ticketing and making it simpler and easier for people to choose rail.”

The tracking was introduced in an attempt to challenge fare dodgers, with the Trainline spokesperson adding: “[This scheme] deters abuses like so-called ‘doughnutting’ and helps protect industry revenue while making rail travel simpler for everyone."

Rail sources estimate that the industry loses around £350-400m per year due to fare evasion, while taxpayers handed over £12.5bn in subsidies for passenger trains in last year.

Up to 4,000 people can register for the new public trial of the new system; all you have to do is download a smartphone app that tracks your location.

A unique bar code pops up in the app, which works at automatic barriers and ticket checks.

The introduction of the system comes amid the ongoing scandal over prosecutions for alleged fare evasion.

Thousands of wrongful criminal convictions have been erased after the Government admitted that train companies were breaking the law in how they used criminal courts to bring prosecutions against alleged fare-dodgers.

The Telegraph has reported that 75,000 convictions have been wiped after the scandal came to light.

The behaviour of the rail industry has been compared to that of the Post Office scandal, where thousands of innocent sub-postmasters were wrongfully brought to court on false criminal charges.