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Friday 11 Jul 2025

ON TRACK: London Waterloo roof upgrade approaches halfway mark as station celebrates its 177th birthday

Region & Route:

Southern: Wessex

London Waterloo celebrates its 177^th birthday today, Friday 11 July, and work to upgrade the roof for the next few decades is now approaching the halfway mark.

So far, 10 of the 25 station concourse bays have been completed with work ongoing on four of them. Work has also commenced on six of the nine porte cochere roofs over Cab Road. In total, the project expects to replace around 10,000 glazing panes and is due to be completed in early 2027.

The upgrade work has been a complex project and involved setting up a protective scaffold decking in the frame of the station under the glass bays to ensure the safety of both passengers using the station and engineers working on site. An access scaffold is then built within the protective scaffold decking to give engineers access to the roof bays.

London Waterloo station opened 177 years ago in 1848, with the current concourse dating from the 1920s. It is the third-busiest station in the country, behind Elizabeth Line stations London Liverpool Street and Tottenham Court Road, meaning that significant works have had to take place overnight during the brief period the station is closed in the early hours of the morning.

This includes erecting and dismantling the scaffolding when moving to a new bay as well as delivering materials and removing rubbish from the worksite.

Once completed, the roof will deliver a brighter station for passengers as well as provide better acoustics for station announcements.

Speaking on behalf of Network Rail and South Western Railway, Harry Watkin, Project Manager for the Waterloo roof upgrade, said: “Once completed, London Waterloo will be cleaner and brighter for passengers while acoustics will make things easier for passengers to hear station announcements. The nature of the work means that passengers can see the progress we have made. At the southern end of the station, near platform one, you can see where we have completed the work, while towards the higher number, passengers can see the old roof as well as the scaffolding where we are currently working.”

Kevin Ursell, Package Manger at Octavius Infrastructure said “We’re proud to be delivering this transformational upgrade to one of the UK’s most iconic and historically significant stations. London Waterloo is not only incredibly busy—it also remains fully operational throughout the works, with thousands of passengers passing through every day. Keeping both passengers and our people safe is our top priority. That’s why every aspect of the project is meticulously planned to ensure safety and minimise disruption.

“Working closely with Network Rail and our supply chain partners, we’ve developed solutions to safely interface with passengers in a live station environment. This includes completing major steel installations and material deliveries overnight, as well as implementing a temporary external roof structure to protect those using and working in the station.

“As we reach the halfway point of the roof upgrade, we’re proud of the progress made and remain committed to delivering a cleaner, brighter, and safer Waterloo for future generations.”

The roof works is just one element of how Network Rail are improving London Waterloo. Starting in August, we are working on refurbishing the escalators linking the South Western Railway platforms with the London Underground.

London Waterloo will also be welcoming the Railway 200 Exhibition train next Friday, 18 July. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the modern railway, inspired by the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825, a journey that changed the world forever. The Exhibition train will tell the story of how the railway shaped Britain and the world and how its pioneering pedigree continues today and is shaping tomorrow, inspiring future generations of railway people.

Network Rail has partnered with Tim Dunn to produce six films over the course of the year showcasing the railway's history, while looking ahead to the future. His film on London Waterloo can be seen below: