OPENING hours at East Lothian’s only railway station ticket office are expected to be cut next year.

Currently, the ticket office at Dunbar Railway Station is open for 102 hours and 25 minutes throughout the week.

However, ScotRail has now confirmed that it will implement changes to some ticket office opening hours “to deliver more visible customer support at stations, reflecting changing travel and ticket purchasing patterns".

At Dunbar, the changes will mean that the ticket office will only be open for 82 hours and 55 minutes throughout the week – a drop of 19 hours and 30 minutes.

Councillor Donna Collins, who represents the town on East Lothian Council, had concerns about the move and claimed: “It’s not good for the station, it’s not good for the people of Dunbar or the travelling public.”

The Conservative councillor felt that face-to-face interaction with staff helped people travelling to ensure they were getting the correct ticket.

She said: “I was heading to Liverpool last week and there were quite a lot of folk at the ticket office getting tickets before I left.

“It is definitely something still being used quite a lot.”

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At Dunbar, the ticket office is currently open from 5.55am to 9.30pm from Monday to Friday.

The changes would mean that the ticket office would instead open at 6.10am and shut at 7.15pm Monday to Thursday, with an earlier closing time of 6.30pm on a Friday.

On a Saturday, the office would change from being open 6.25am-8.40pm to 7am-6pm.

Finally, on a Sunday, the ticket office would continue to open at 11.15am but close at 6.30pm instead of 9.30pm.

ScotRail stressed that the changes in the opening hours “does not affect” trains stopping at the station and no ticket offices would close.

Research shows that there has been a 50 per cent drop in ticket office sales over the last decade.

Forty-three per cent of tickets are now purchased online, with a further 20 per cent coming through ticket vending machines at stations.

Just 16 per cent of sales are via ticket offices – and 90 per cent of those sales come from just 20 stations.

The train operator has pledged to provide significant notice to customers before the changes to ticket office opening hours take place, which is expected to be in 2025.

Phil Campbell, ScotRail customer operations director, said: “The independent passenger watchdog Transport Focus carried out an extensive consultation on these proposals, which received feedback from thousands of people across Scotland.

“We have listened to our customers and updated our proposals based on that feedback.

“These changes will provide a service that is better suited for today and the ticket-buying habits of our customers, as well as create an environment that improves safety and customer support."