Train passengers can use their mobile phone as a ticket from today (Monday).

Rail operator First Capital Connect has launched a mobile ticketing app, which allows passengers to use their mobile phone or tablet as a ticket machine.

Mobile tickets – mTickets – are displayed on the phone’s screen as an encrypted barcode to be scanned by gate line scanners or revenue staff, turning the phone into a personalised ticket.

The tickets can be used at London King’s Cross, Cambridge and King’s Lynn but the technology will very shortly be rolled out so that passengers can use mTickets to travel to and from these three stations via Stevenage, Hitchin, Letchworth GC, Royston and Ely.

Later, First Capital Connect also expects to offer use of the app – which also provides real-time information on trains and timetables – for journeys between Gatwick and London.

Tickets purchased for other routes or ticket types on the app can be collected from any station ticket machine using the unique reference number sent to customer’s mobile or tablet.

“We are delighted to be launching our mTicket range as part of our commitment to make the ticket purchasing process for passengers as easy as possible,” said First Capital Connect’s customer service director Keith Jipps.

“We have been quietly trialling this app over the past few months and it has proved so successful we are looking to expand mobile ticketing to other stations on our network.”

Ben Whitaker, chief executive officer for Masabi which developed the technology, said: “After studying and living in Cambridge for years, and also starting the company in Cambridge, it is particularly exciting for me to see First Capital Connect launching queue-busting mobile ticketing at London King’s Cross and Cambridge, making it even easier for passengers to jump between these two fantastic hubs of culture, history and education.

“This service will mean that passengers, for the first time, will be able to buy their tickets as they stroll to the station rather than having to queue for a ticket. We look forward to extending this passenger liberating service to other First Capital Connect routes in the future.”