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Thursday 28 May 2015

Closing the gap at Vauxhall station

Region & Route:

| Southern: Wessex

| Southern

A new platform surface has reduced the step for passengers and increased safety at one of London’s busiest – and most historic - stations.

Rumour has it that the South West Trains station of Vauxhall once so impressed the Russian Tsar, on a visit in the 1840s, that it actually gave its name to the Russian word for ‘large station’ (vokzal). That may or may not be true, but recent investment by the Network Rail / South West Trains Alliance has given the 167-year-old station a fresh look on platforms 7 and 8.

Despite its low profile, the station provides an interchange with the Victoria Line and buses, leaving it as the country’s 18^th busiest station – and London’s 14^th - with 20m passengers a year.

The Alliance’s managing director, Tim Shoveller, said: “Platforms 7 and 8 were getting very worn and we needed to bring them up to our high standards and also try to reduce the step between the trains and the station.

“It’s a really important station for us and our passengers and this will make a big difference to travellers on two of our busiest platforms.

“We have an ongoing programme of improving our stations but the creation of the Alliance has streamlined the process and Vauxhall is an example of where we have been able to crack on and get the work done.”

The work was carried out by contractors Osborne, mainly working over weekends to avoid disrupting passengers on this very busy platform.