A new, national, elearning programme for railway ticket office staff is being rolled out.

Designed by Brightwave, the programme, entitled 'Fares Made Simple', is in the process of being implemented by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) across the UK via the internet and CD-Rom, following one of the biggest changes in ticketing in the last 30 years.

The aim of the new programme is to enable staff to offer customers the most appropriate ticket for their individual needs and circumstances and explains the new fares and ticket structure.

The modules, which focus on the background, the new ticket structure, and the implications to staff and customers, take around 90 minutes to complete and are followed by an assessment to record level of knowledge and understanding.

"The new elearning programme enables us to communicate with frontline staff at a national level both quickly and effectively to ensure that they are aware of changes taking place," said Mark Bryce, ATOC’s retail support manager.

Staff carrying out the training are computer literate but may not have used elearning before. The course will be undertaken both at learner's desks and in training rooms and has been made available on the internet as well on a CD-Rom.

Lars Hyland, director of learning services at Brightwave, commented: "This project for ATOC, along with our work with Openreach, supporting engineers’ health and safety when working in rail environments, proves that we are able to apply elearning as an effective training medium for a wide range of work environments and learners."