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Monday 25 Jul 2011

MORE SEATS AND A BETTER STATION FOR EAST GRINSTEAD PASSENGERS

Region & Route:

| Southern

The Mayor of East Grinstead, Cllr John Saull, today joined Network Rail, Southern, East Grinstead town councillors and other members of the community at East Grinstead railway station to mark the start of a major upgrade of the station which will allow longer trains run and improve the overall travelling experience for passengers.

The first phase of the work is to upgrade the tracks and extend the platforms by around 80m so they can handle12-car trains, rather than the current eight-car, providing more seats for thousands of passengers who travel on the busy route between East Grinstead and Victoria every day.

Phase two, which is being funded through the national stations improvement programme, focuses on improving facilities and the overall station environment. The work includes:

– A new station building which has an improved layout making it easier for passengers to move through the station, particularly at the busiest times of the day
– A brighter and more spacious booking hall area, which includes a fully accessible ticket office window, improved retail and new passenger toilets
– Improved passenger drop off and taxi facilities
– New automatic ticket gates and improved CCTV coverage
– New platform waiting shelters
– Enhanced cycle parking facilities

Cllr John Saull said: “Both the new station, and the Bluebell Railway northern extension which is coming next year, will certainly smarten up this quarter of the town and increase business opportunities."

Mark Ruddy, Network Rail's route director for Sussex, said: “This upgrade is a big step forward in providing a bigger and better railway for the people of East Grinstead. Once completed, there will be more seats on trains and better station facilities, which will significantly make a real and long-lasting difference to the daily journeys for thousands of passengers.”

David Scorey, Southern’s franchise improvement director said: “Once this programme of work is complete, we will be in a much better position to be able to increase seating capacity significantly into central London on the East Grinstead Line starting from December 2011, and our passengers will also benefit greatly from the new station building. The work has been planned in a way which will keep disruption to a minimum which is great news for our passengers.”

The platform extensions and track upgrades, which are being delivered by Network Rail, are scheduled for completion by 11 December 2011 so the longer trains can start running in the new timetable.

The new station building and improvements to facilities, which are being delivered by Southern, begin in September and are due for completion in summer 2012.