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Thursday 22 Mar 2018

Free drinking water on tap for Kent, Sussex and South East London rail passengers at Charing Cross

Region & Route:

| Southern

Almost 30m Southeastern railway passengers every year can enjoy free drinking water thanks to a water fountain opened today by Network Rail at London Charing Cross.

It’s the first Network Rail station to feature a water fountain and the company aims to roll them out at its other stations that serve the South East Route – Victoria, London Bridge and Cannon Street – within a year. The initiative forms part of Network Rail’s wider ambitions to reduce the impact of plastic waste at its stations.

Mark Carne, Network Rail’s chief executive, said: “We hope that by making this small change, we not only help quench the thirst of our station users, but also have a positive impact on the environment by reducing single-use plastics.

"As one of Britain’s biggest landowners, we are always looking for the best ways to positively change, protect and enhance Britain’s environment and it’s our ambition to reduce the waste that we send to landfill to as near as possible to zero.”

Mr Carne joined Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey at the station to celebrate the switching on of the fountain with the first user, Southeastern passenger Sheila Pearce, of Chislehurst.

Thérèse Coffey said: “By refilling our water bottles to cut our plastic use we can each make a genuine difference and help to protect our oceans and precious marine life. One of our big challenges is on the go consumption including in transport hubs like railway stations.

"That is why Network Rail deserve great credit for introducing this new water fountain, which will give commuters free access to excellent clean and safe drinking water, and I hope this will be the first of many fountains across the rail network and across the country.”

Charing Cross is the country’s 15^th busiest station, with almost 30m passengers in 2016/17, serving South East London, Kent and parts of Sussex.

Charing Cross station manager Robert Williamson said: “At Charing Cross we always try to be at the forefront of new developments and when we heard about the opportunity to try and reduce the number of single use plastic bottles and also improve our passengers’ journeys, we jumped at the chance. We’ve worked very hard over the last few months to plan and install it and I’m delighted it’s open now.”

Jason Clarke, Southeastern’s Area Manager for Charing Cross, Victoria, and Waterloo East said: “This state-of-the-art water fountain is a fantastic addition to Charing Cross that will continue to enhance the station environment, providing a real benefit for our customers and everyone else that uses the station.”