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Also, on the same date, the facility to buy a ticket from a Guard on the train will be withdrawn.

The principle of the extended scheme is simple: buy a ticket at the station before you board a train or you are liable to be issued with a Penalty Fare of £20 plus the fare to your destination station by a Ticket Inspector.

So the message is clear: “Buy before you ride”

To enable passengers to buy a ticket at any Merseyrail station, new easy to use ticket machines and information points have been installed at the few stations where no staffed booking office is available.

Research shows that people who assault staff, create disorder and commit vandalism are also often fare evaders. Tackling fare evasion by enforcing Penalty Fares helps to address these problems. The new scheme plugs the gaps in the existing regime and clears up any confusion about when a passenger without a ticket will be issued with a Penalty Fare.

From 15 June, passengers must purchase a ticket for their entire journey before boarding a train. Any passenger who is found travelling without a valid ticket for their entire journey is liable to be issued with a Penalty Fare of £20 by Merseyrail Ticket Inspectors plus the fare to the passengers’ destination station if continuing their journey.

Merseyrail has always “ring-fenced” the money collected from the £20 Penalty fare for re-investment into further security measures on Merseyrail, such increased use of security guards across the network and additional CCTV cameras and will continue to do so.

Bart Schmeink, Merseyrail’s Managing Director, said: “The vast majority of our passengers are law abiding, honest people who pay for their tickets. They should not be subsidising the few dishonest people who don’t buy a ticket and cause problems on our trains”.

“It is now very simple, if you haven’t bought a ticket at the station, you shouldn’t be on a Merseyrail train. And if you are, you will get a £20 Penalty Fare”.

Councillor Chris Blakeley, Chair of Merseytravel’s Rail Committee, said: “This is a simple campaign with the best intentions”.

“Our zero tolerance approach to tackling crime on the rail network is paying dividends; it is central to what we are trying to do – and that is to create a world class rail network that is delivering excellent services, and one that is safe and clean. Those honest fare paying passengers travelling on the train, and I count myself among them, deserve that”.

“Incidents are incredibly low for what is one of the busiest rail networks outside London and that is largely down to campaigns that target those who flout the rules and break the law.”

All 66 stations have now been awarded the coveted “secure station” status after visits by the British Transport Police on behalf of the Department for Transport in association with Crime Concern.

The last three stations which have now achieved secure status are Sandhills, Little Sutton and Overpool.

Councillor Mark Dowd, chair of Merseytravel, said: “This is a unique achievement which will be welcomed by the growing number of passengers who use the network every year.

“They can do so in the knowledge that they are travelling on one of the UK’s safest rail networks.”

Neil Scales, Chief Executive of Merseytravel, said:” This is yet another historic milestone in the progress of Merseyrail Electrics since we took control five years ago as part of our overall strategy to provide a single integrated transport network that is accessible to everyone.”

Bart Schmeink, Merseyrail’s Managing Director said: “When others in the rail industry told us that it was impossible to have our entire network accredited as secure, we decided that we would prove them wrong – and we have proved in other areas such as our pioneering approach to anti-social behaviour on trains.”

Having gained secure station status the network will be regularly re-assessed to ensure that high standards are maintained.

Tough industry standards evaluate safety measures including CCTV, design standards of both buildings and facilities and the quality of customer service.

Merseytravel and Merseyrail worked with British Transport Police and Carlisle Security on the unprecedented achievement.

The task of accrediting all stations on the Merseyrail network began in July 2004, when Ormskirk was the first to receive a “Secure Station” award.

In addition, a total of 95 per cent of Merseyrail’s car parks, 34 out of 36, have achieved “Secure Car Park” status.

As part of our "Official Supporter" package, a number of further promotional activities are planned throughout the year.

No advance warning will be given from 15 March 2008

Merseyrail has enforced the national railway byelaws since February 2007 to tackle anti-social behaviour such as putting feet on seats in response to passengers feed back on this issue.

From a peak of over 300 incidents per month in Spring 2007, the number of incidents where someone has been cautioned for a breach of the byelaws has fallen to around 30 per month now; a ten-fold reduction.

A highly visible presence together with posters and public announcements have created a high level of awareness amongst passengers that Merseyrail does not tolerate anti-social behaviour.

In order to target a small minority of passengers who have not changed their behaviour, Merseyrail has decided that from 15 March 2008, no advance warning will be given when byelaw enforcement officers board a train. From that date, anyone found to be in breach of the railway byelaws may be prosecuted without prior warning.