SOUTH Western Railway are encouraging their customers to stop using paper tickets and change to Smart Cards, which can be used online.

The new initiative is part of South Western Railway’s (SWR) smart ticketing campaign, which they call renew without the queue.

Seasonal ticket holders who transfer from the traditional paper ticket to the SWR smart ticket Touch will be entered into a prize draw.

The prize draw will give new customers of the Touch Smart Card the opportunity to win back the price they paid for their tickets.

A representative from South Western Railway said: “Having one of our Touch Smart Cards means having the convenience of buying and managing tickets online, rather than queuing at the ticket office or ticket machine to buy or replace paper tickets.

"There are many more benefits associated with the Touch Smart Card that don’t come with paper tickets. Switching to a Touch Smart card rather than continuing with paper tickets has to be a no-brainer.”

The benefits of the Smart Card include the ability to cancel the card immediatley when lost, the plastic card will remain in good condition and there is no risk of it not working at ticket gates.

Smart ticketing also means that customers of South Western Railway can buy and manage their tickets online rather than queuing at ticket offices while travelling.

SWR Touch Smart Cards can be used with Weekly, Monthly and Annual Season Tickets as well as single and return tickets.

The prize draw will be picking three winners each month up until Thursday April, 30 this year.

The Smart Cards are free and are available online, for information visit https://www.southwesternrailway.com/train-tickets/smart-ticketing.