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Monday 5 Nov 2018

£1.7 million station refurbishment underway at Longbridge

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

Work has begun on the £1.7 million refurbishment of Longbridge station in Birmingham.

Passengers will benefit from a better, more modern station which is being delivered by Network Rail and funded by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP.

The work is part of the £70 million National Stations Improvement Programme (NSIP) which is helping to transform stations across the country. It will be completed in spring 2019.

Facilities for passengers will be improved by demolishing the existing station rooms to create a larger concourse area complete with new flooring, new automatic doors, and a new accessible toilet and ticket counter.

The appearance of the station will be improved with a new front, replacement glass throughout the building, a new roof and canopy.

Harpreet Singh Moore, scheme project manager at Network Rail, said: “The improvement work at Longbridge station is part of our National Stations Improvement Programme to transform the facilities at stations across the network.

“This investment, funded by Birmingham City Council, will significantly improve the experience for passengers. Thanks to careful planning with our colleagues at West Midlands Railway there will be minimal disruption to passengers while we carry out this essential upgrade.”

Councillor Waseem Zaffar, cabinet member for Transport and Environment at Birmingham City Council, said: “I am delighted to announce that work on our £1.7 million investment at Longbridge station has begun. This scheme will deliver many benefits for passengers including higher quality and more accessible facilities.

“The new station features will be installed by spring 2019 and in the meantime while there is no disruption to train services, Longbridge station will look a little different so we are grateful to passengers for their patience during these important works.”

Mitzi Latham, West Midlands Railway's station manager for Longbridge station, said: “There’s been significant development around Longbridge town centre in recent years and we look forward to the investment now being made in the station.

“Longbridge will remain open throughout the work, but we would advise customers to plan ahead and allow more time for their journey over the next few months. When complete, the newly refurbished concourse and entrance area will be more welcoming and will improve the overall experience for all our customers.”

Network Rail is currently investigating options for further investment at the station to improve facilities at platform level.