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Tuesday 25 Oct 2022

One of London’s busiest rail interchanges gets some love as Network Rail continues its major improvement work at Clapham Junction

Region & Route:

Southern

| Southern: Wessex

| Southern: Sussex

Network Rail has started the second phase of a project to give Clapham Junction a brighter look with better facilities, more shops and cafes and more space for passengers.

This autumn, Network Rail will be carrying out £15.5m of work to improve passenger flow and reduce congestion at Clapham Junction station, one of London’s busiest interchanges.

The Brighton Yard entrance, at bridge level off St John’s Hill, is being remodelled to allow for wider gatelines to be installed to improve accessibility and reduce overall congestion.

Adrian Gogay, Network Rail, senior sponsor, said: “Clapham Junction station is one of London’s busiest interchanges, situated at the heart of South West London and we believe it needs to be given some love to make it a more pleasant and enjoyable experience for passengers who are travelling to and from it.

“We welcome the major investment from the Department for Transport and are working closely with our partners to help improve and grow the station to make it more comfortable for passengers when travelling.

“So far, our teams have completed a series of improvements, including installing and rolling out free passenger WiFi, refurbishing the lifts to improve accessibility, and repainting the overbridge from platform one to six.”

Alongside this, more space for five new retail units will also be built with plans to include new coffee shops and newsagents.

Other improvements are also being made to the toilets and baby changing facilities for passengers, including those with restricted mobility.

Passengers should note that, as part of long-term plans, the ticket office at the main entrance (Brighton Yard) will be permanently closed and more ticket machines will be added. There will also be a temporary reduction in cycle storage spaces. The ticket office at the St John’s Hill entrance will remain open for passengers.

Christian Neill, South Western Railway's customer experience director, said: “Clapham Junction is one of the busiest and most important stations on our network, so we very much welcome this significant investment, which will help reduce congestion and make the station more attractive and accessible for customers. It has been fantastic to see the improvements made to date and we look forward to our customers seeing the full results of this £35m programme of work when it completes.”

The third phase of work will continue in December where Network Rail will be replacing and widening the current staircases on platform 13 and 14 to improve safety and allow for a higher volume of people to pass through at once, in turn reducing congestion.

These works are all part of the £35m programme of work, aiming to improve the overall passenger experience at Clapham Junction station.