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Friday 20 Jul 2018

Better journeys at London’s Vauxhall station following congestion-busting project

Region & Route:

Southern: Wessex

| Southern

More than 22 million people a year are benefiting from a multi-million upgrade that finished six months early and will help give passengers better journeys.

As part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan, Vauxhall station, which dates back to 1848, has seen a new staircase installed between the concourse and platform 7/8.

The project also saw the busiest lift on the south western rail network moved and rebuilt to make way for the new staircase. 

The new stairs and lift will ease congestion on the narrow platform, improving safety for passengers and boosting capacity to allow the better running of South Western Railway’s 10 car trains between Waterloo and Vauxhall.

It will also allow for quicker off-loading of passengers from trains and off the platform, helping improve train performance with fewer delays in trains leaving the station.

The new lift and staircase opened on 6th July 2018.

Hollie Ryan, scheme project manager for Network Rail, said:

“We’re delighted to have delivered this scheme on budget and six months ahead of schedule as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan.

“This achievement is testament to our ‘team orange’ staff, who have worked tirelessly to deliver better, safer journeys for users of Vauxhall station.”

The scheme took more than 500,000 working hours to complete since work began in March 2017 with approximately 25 tonnes of structural steel used. 

The work was completed by the Wessex Capacity Alliance, formed of Network Rail, Colas Rail, Skanska, Mott MacDonald and AECOM.

ENDS