Tuesday 23 Jun 2009
HISTORIC KING’S CROSS RESTORATION MARKS FIRST STAGE OF STATION REDEVELOPMENT
- Region & Route:
- | North West & Central
- | Southern
The first stage of Network Rail’s £450m full-scale redevelopment of King's Cross has been completed, with the official opening of the Eastern Range – a previously neglected Victorian building that has been brought back in to service.
The building – part of the Grade One heritage listed King's Cross station – now has the capacity to house up to 400 station staff and includes state-of-the-art office facilities. Crucially, it offers a glimpse of what the complete station re-model will look like on completion in time for the Olympics in 2012.
Following restoration works, the building was officially opened by Barbara Follett, Minister for Heritage, Culture, Creative Industry and Tourism, along with members of the King's Cross redevelopment team.
Simon Kirby, director infrastructure investment at Network Rail, said: “The Eastern Range epitomises everything we are trying to achieve as a company. It represents our commitment to deliver a twenty-first century railway, our commitment to heritage, and is a symbol of what passengers, customers and communities can rightly expect of a twenty-first century railway network.”
To complete the restoration project, Network Rail worked closely with English Heritage to emphasize the historic features of the Victorian building, while equipping it with the modern equipment necessary for an operational office. The restored building has significantly improved the image of York Way and Network Rail has committed a further £1m for Camden Council to use to improve the surrounding streetscape.
Speaking about the refurbishment, Barbara Follett MP said: “Congratulations on the superb job at the Eastern Range. You have appreciated we have a past, but also that we must look to the future.”
Moving staff into the Eastern Range from the existing offices on the western side of the station will allow Network Rail’s project team to begin work on the new semi-circular western concourse which will be, at 8000sq metres, three times the size of the current concourse area.
Notes to editors
About the King’s Cross redevelopment: • The majority of the station redevelopment will be completed by 2012 in time for the Olympics with the transformation complete by 2013. • Once completed, 50m passengers will use the new station each year – 10m more than today. An additional platform, increasing reliability and capacity at the station will be built • The new station will include integrated transport links with international and domestic services from St Pancras and the London Underground • The Grade 1 listed façade will be restored to its former glory by demolishing the current single-storey extension to the station • A new open piazza in front of the station, larger than Leicester Square, will be created Benefits to the local community: • Network Rail has given £1m to Camden Council to spend on improvements to the local area, including £750,000 to improve the pedestrian environment along York Way. • As well as redeveloping the station itself, Network Rail will spend over £6m to create a major new public piazza space outside the southern end of the station which will be larger than Leicester Square. • The equivalent of almost 400 jobs will be created as a result of this work and Network Rail is working with surrounding local authorities to support training and employment for people in the local community. • Network Rail has also pledged to provide £175,000 to increase the number of covered cycle racks for the station. This will help to provide 800 more spaces for bike parking in the King’s Cross Central site in time for the Olympics. • King’s Cross has been identified by the Mayor’s London Plan as an area of potential growth. Network Rail is working closely with local authorities and neighbouring developers (London and Continental Railways, and Argent plc) so that plans for the station support this wider development. Network Rail will also support a number of local community groups throughout this project.Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - South East route
020 3357 7969
southeastroutecomms@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk