Media centre

Wednesday 11 Dec 2024

Passengers say yes to Liverpool Street station’s transformation plans

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

Overwhelming support for Network Rail’s plans to restore, respect and regenerate Britain’s busiest station

Three out of four passengers are in support of Network Rail Property’s new plans to make Liverpool Street station future fit. The station, which celebrated its 150th anniversary this year, now connects over 100 million people a year, a figure which is forecasted to grow to 140 million a year by 2050. 

The new plans focus on transforming the current customer experience. From increasing the size of the concourse of the mainline station and the overcrowded Tube ticket hall to improving step-free access to all main line rail and Tube platforms.  

In a widespread public consultation, nearly 250,000 people engaged with the plans and over 1,800 station users have responded with comments. The new plans were drawn up in response to objections to the original proposal.  

Robin Dobson, Group Property Director for Network Rail Property, commented: 

“We have listened and acted upon extensive feedback from the public, from passengers and from wider stakeholders. Our new proposals have had an overwhelmingly positive response which is fantastic news for the hundreds of millions of people who want to continue using one of the world’s great stations.  

“It's a vote of confidence in our approach to restore the station’s status as world leading. To regenerate our facilities and deal with inadequate capacity, both of which continue to frustrate our passengers. 

“With such a complex project and with multiple stakeholders, there will always be objections, but the overwhelming response has been it’s time to get on with making Liverpool Street station the best it can be. That’s why this support from passengers is crucial to us. It’s from the people who use the station day in, day out, week in, week out. We will of course continue to review all the comments in detail before submitting an application.” 

Through the public consultation, station users were asked to give their opinions on their top priorities: 

• 82% agreed with the plans for step-free access to the station  

“Accessibility needs to be at the heart of the changes. It’s a very busy station and often if feels like disabled people’s needs are forgotten,” Ellie, Chelmsford. 

• 77% said yes to new lifts to make overground trains and the London Underground more accessible  

“Long overdue. Patients for Great Ormond Street Hospital coming into the station are unable to continue their journey by tube due to no lift or flat access,” Jules, Colchester. 

• 75% gave the thumbs up to new toilets including family facilities on every level 

“I’ve used Liverpool Street with a child in a wheelchair and I had to carry him downstairs to use the toilet as the ground floor toilets had a queue of over 20 people. More space is desperately needed,” Julian, Norwich. 

• 63% said getting better signage from the station and making buses easier to find was a top priority 

“Reduce the need to walk so much within the station by adding better routes or signage to all areas including the streets," Anjani, Broadgate, London 

The majority of people agreed that the development plans should respect the Victorian features, including the original trainshed and the former Great Eastern Hotel but this should not be at the expense of much needed passenger improvements.  

Transformation plans 

The cost of making Liverpool Street station future fit will run into the hundreds of millions of pounds. The majority of the investment will be covered by the private sector through the introduction of new office space at the station.  

The plans to transform Liverpool Street station include: 

• 8 new lifts to make platforms and the London Underground more accessible 

• Increasing the number of escalators from 4 to 8 to enable easier access to the trains   

• More ticket barriers to reduce queuing and additional waiting lounges 

• New toilets, including family facilities on all levels of the station to bring much needed relief to travellers 

• New landmark entrances on Liverpool Street, Bishopsgate and Exchange Square. 

• The departure board, which hangs above the concourse at a right angle to the platforms, will be removed and replaced with a line of smaller boards above each platform entrance making it much easier for people to find onward connections. 

• More cycle storage with direct access to platforms  
• A greater variety of cafes, restaurants and shops  

ACME is working with Network Rail Property to bring forward new proposals for Liverpool Street station. The new scheme is based on a thorough understanding of the operational needs of the station and its historic significance.  

Frederich Ludewig, Founding Director, ACME, said:   

“We are delighted to be part of this monumental design challenge to create a world-class transport gateway in the City of London. Working with Network Rail Property, we are creating a transport hub that will work for the city and all Londoners.”  

About the consultation 

The public consultation has involved: opinion research, focus groups, a series of in-station pop-up consultations and ‘Meet the team’ events, where the architects and the project team took members of the public on tours around the station to explain the plans. An online public webinar was also hosted where attendees could ask questions of the architects, Network Rail project leaders and heritage consultants.  

Multiple stakeholder workshops including online and in-person meetings with accessibility and heritage groups have also taken place to get feedback on the proposed new plans to inform the design process going forward. 

Station users have embraced the new plans: 

“It astounds me that there is a distinct lack of ramps of lifts for people with suitcases connecting to Stansted Airport let alone people with accessible concerns or prams,” Laura, Colchester.  

“This plan seems much better, the concourse remains open air and spacious and the replacement to the 1980s/90s recreation of the Victorian shed is much more pleasing than the jarring previous version,” Fred, Carshalton. 

“By all means respect the history of the station, but not at the cost of failing to make it an incredible place for the future. Crack on and get it done,” Richard, Chelmsford  

“I much prefer this plan over the previous iteration. I like that the supporting structure for the towers inside the station blends well and heightens the architecture of the train shed. I also really like the new design for the retail units. It makes them much more open and inviting for station users,” Jonathan, Tower Hamlets. 

Consultation Data 

Digital Outreach on Meta and LinkedIN. 

213,704 people have viewed information on the redevelopment plans for London Liverpool Street on Meta on average three times, with 33,589 people liking, sharing or commenting on the content.  

23,454 people on LInkedIN have viewed content on the redevelopment plans on the Time for Liverpool Street station page, with 459 liking, sharing or commenting on the content.  

Website engagement.  

10,000 unique users of the website. 

71,000 engagements on the website. 

Individual responses to the consultation 

1,860 individual responses to the consultation. Of those that indicated a preference, 74% expressed positive sentiment towards the plans.  

99% of those that responded are users of the station.  

On specific topics, respondents were in favour of:  

• more space inside the station to ease congestion (63%) 

• new lifts to make Network Rail platforms and the London Underground more accessible (77%) 

• more escalators to enable easier access to the trains (64%) 

• new toilets, including family facilities on all levels of the station (75%) 

• a wider variety of cafes, restaurants and shops (48%) 

• step- free access across the station and London Underground (82%) 

• more ticket barriers to reduce queuing (63%) 

•  better signage to make the buses easier to find (69%) 
• more cycle storage with direct storage to the platforms (37%) 

More information is available at: www.timeforliverpoolstreet.co.uk 

You can follow the progress of the scheme: 

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/time4lls 

Instagram – (@time4lls) • Instagram photos and videos 

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/time4lss 

Notes to editors 

1. For more information, please contact: media@timeforliverpoolstreet.co.uk

Shared Voice: Wyn Evans 07909 974924 and Cherry Norton 07946 358588 

Network Rail: Catrin Sharp 07717 763 552 and Felicity Jump 07887 896411      

2. Network Rail has appointed a new design and professional advisory team: New team, new approach. This includes:

• ACME - Architecture 

• AECOM - Engineering & transport 

• Certo - Project management 

• Gerald Eve - Planning 

• Gleeds - Cost manager 

• Donald Insall Associates - Heritage & townscape 

• GIA - Rights of light 

• JLL - Investment advice 

• AVR London - Visualisations 

• SLA – Landscape Architecture 

• Shared Voice - communications & engagement 

• Intelligent Data Collection - Pedestrian modelling 

• Mima Group – Accessibility & Inclusive design consultants 

• Seam Design – Lighting 

3. Sketches showing the revised scheme are available here: www.timeforliverpoolstreet.co.uk/media