No traces of coronavirus were found following tests at four major railway stations in England, Network Rail has said.

Tests were carried out in Birmingham New Street as well as London Euston, Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street.

The study inspected places passengers regularly come into contact with including escalator handles, ticket machines and benches.

Additionally, hour-long air samples were taken.

The results were examined by Imperial College London and found no covid contamination on any surface, or any airborne particles of the virus.

Rob Mole, senior programme manager for Network Rail’s response to the pandemic, said: “Station cleaning teams and train staff have made it their mission to keep passengers safe during the pandemic and this is proof their dedicated approach works.

“We want all passengers to travel in confidence on the railway network and we will keep doing our part by rigorously cleaning trains and stations.

“We ask passengers to do their bit too by wearing face coverings while travelling out of respect for others so we can all stop the spread of Covid-19.”

The legal requirement for people to wear face coverings on trains was removed on July 19, the inspections however were carried out in two-rounds of testing, in January and June.

David Green, senior research fellow at Imperial College London, said: “In the same way that a swab is used to take a Covid-19 test in the nose and throat and sent to the lab, we use a filter to collect any virus particles in the air and swabs to collect viruses on surfaces.

“This approach provides a way of quantifying the amount of virus circulating in these public environments and the effect of mitigation strategies like cleaning and wearing face coverings.

“This is part of a wider programme of work with the public transport sector to understand where this virus is most prevalent so that we can return to pre-pandemic activities as safely as possible.”