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Plans to revamp Swansea railway station into a bright, accessible, clean and secure station fit for the 21^st century are unveiled for the first time today.

More than 1.6m passengers who travel through the Swansea station every year are set to benefit from better journey experiences from the revamp. 

The upgrade will also help boost Swansea’s public transport network as the scheme sits alongside ongoing works to refurbish the city’s Quadrant bus station.

An exhibition is now on show at the city’s high-street station that includes images of how the station will look upon the completion of the planned upgrade as well as information on what new features will be introduced.

The scheme, which is part of the Department for Transport’s national station improvement programme, is jointly led by Arriva Trains Wales, Network Rail and the Welsh Assembly Government.

It also has firm support from Swansea Council, which sees the planned improvements to the station as a further boost to the city’s regeneration plans.

The scheme will see a larger concourse area with better and more accessible passenger facilities, as well as new waiting shelters, new booking office with extra ticket vending machines, toilets, digital information boards, shops and CCTV cameras.

The station environment will also be significantly improved with refurbished canopies and modernised fittings that will blend in with existing architecture.

Contracts to carry out the railway station revamp are currently being tendered for and work on site is expected to begin once the process is completed.

The Deputy First Minister and Minister for Economy and Transport said: "I am extremely pleased to be part of this partnership project which meets yet another of our commitments in our National Transport Plan. I am sure I speak for all our partners, Network Rail, Arriva Trains Wales, and the City and County of Swansea, when I say that we are thoroughly looking forward to seeing the much needed work begin.

"This is certainly an exciting time for Swansea - I am sure passengers will be very proud of their new brighter, safer station for years to come." 

Chris Rayner, route director for Network Rail, said: “Stations are the railways' shop-front and they have been ignored for too long.  Over the next five years, stations are among Network Rail’s top priorities and, together with our partners, we will be investing around £85m into improving stations in Wales by 2014.  

“Swansea is among the many stations to benefit from this wider investment.  The transformed station will serve as a catalyst for further growth in rail usage in Swansea, while helping to provide a much better environment for the city.  We have also listened to passengers and this plan will respond to their needs by improving their travel experience so that their rail journey will always be comfortable, convenient and safe.” 

Ian Bullock, customer services director at Arriva Trains Wales said: “We are pleased to be delivering the project alongside our partners to provide a much improved and brighter passenger experience at Swansea Station. The improvement work has been designed specifically to update and in some cases install new facilities including a greater provision of service information, vending facilities, CCTV and an improvement of access all of which contribute to a station fit for the 21^st century and we hope will encourage more people to try the train”

Councillor Chris Holley, Swansea Council Leader, said: “The upgrade of Swansea railway station is terrific news. The station serves as one of the key gateways into the city and it gives many people a first impression of Swansea. This work is vital in ensuring those impressions are positive.

“It’s hugely important that Swansea has a public transport network in place that’s fit for the 21st Century and this upgrade will complement ongoing works to refurbish the Quadrant Bus Station, the imminent return of the Swansea to Cork ferry and the introduction of a fast cat service between Swansea and Ilfracombe.

“These are very encouraging times for the High Street area of Swansea and will boost its regeneration. This scheme will sit alongside projects such as the Urban Village plans for part of High Street led by The Coastal Housing Group to create an area the people of Swansea can be proud of.”

The improvement work at Swansea railway station will be carried out in two key phases to bring incremental benefits to passengers. Passengers will benefit from an improved concourse area by 2011 before further work on the platform area begins in the second phase.  

The improvement work will be carried out with minimal disruption to passengers and extra steps will be taken to keep the station open at all times.

The improvements will include:

-          A bigger concourse

-          A brighter station with specially glazed walls, allowing natural light to flood in

-          A renovated station front

-          A brand new entrance

-          Refurbished platform canopies

-          Two new waiting rooms

-          A centralised customer information desk

-          Easy access to taxi rank, ticket office and toilets

-          New café and more shops

-          More bike racks

-          More digital information boards

-          Upgraded CCTV system