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Friday 4 Dec 2020

Goring-by-Sea footbridge in West Sussex to be refurbished thanks to £511,000 investment from Network Rail

Region & Route:

Southern: Sussex

| Southern

Work is well under way to refurbish the footbridge at Goring-by-Sea station and provide a safer way of crossing the railway as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan.

Repairs include the renewing of staircase coverings, treads and metalwork to maintain the footbridge structure along with repainting and application of other protective coatings.

Goring-by-Sea train station was opened in 1846 in West Sussex and all services running through the station are operated by Southern.

Regular trains running from here include an hourly service to Brighton, a 2-hourly service to London Victoria, and an hourly service to Southampton Central. Trains from Goring-by-Sea can reach London Victoria in about 1.5 hours.

Passengers at Goring-by-Sea can also get on and off the full length of longer Southern trains thanks to platform extensions built by Network Rail and funded by the Department for Transport.

Built to support a new timetable during the construction of the £150m upgrade of Gatwick Airport station, longer trains are now opening their doors at Goring-by-Sea station.

Construction work on the platforms was completed earlier this year, allowing passengers to access the full length of the trains. This also means level crossings at Goring will be closed for much shorter times, cutting traffic congestion.

Shaun King, Sussex route director for Network Rail, said:

“When the work is finished, this footbridge will provide station users with a much safer way of crossing the railway at Goring-by-Sea. Work to replace the footbridge has been carefully planned to not disrupt trains while the new bridge will serve the station and passengers for decades to come.”

Angie Doll, Managing Director for Southern and Gatwick Express, said:

“On behalf of our Goring-by-Sea customers we welcome Network Rail’s major investments to improve services and safety here. This work will be complemented by our own network-wide station improvement programme, making Goring-by-Sea better for our passengers with new information screens, benches, a platform shelter and a ticket machine canopy.

“If you need to travel by train, rest assured we are working hard behind the scenes to keep trains and stations clean and safe. At all times please remember – hands, face, space. Wash your hands before and after each trip, wear a face covering and keep a safe distance from other passengers.”

The project is due to be completed in March 2021.