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Thursday 11 Aug 2016

Passengers to benefit from improvements at Knaresborough station

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Improvements to the railway station buildings at Knaresborough will get under way in the coming weeks. 

From Monday, 22 August Network Rail’s engineers will be on site for around 12 weeks making the station building watertight and carrying out repairs to the chimney stack on the signal box.

Network Rail’s area director, Mark Tarry, said: “Knaresborough station sits in the most beautiful surroundings and is an important gateway to the town which it serves. The building has suffered from damp which our team will be fixing as well as tidying up the outside of the building, replacing the guttering and pipes and improving the station environment for passengers. The Chimney stack at Knaresborough signal box dates from around the late 1800s. This will be removed and rebuilt as part of the project.

“We are working hard with Northern to minimise the disruption to passengers during these improvements and I want to thank passengers for their patience.”

All work in the platform canopy will be carried out at night to minimise the impact on passengers. However, three parking spaces will be taken up to be used as the compound for the work.

Paul Barnfield, Regional Director for Northern, said: “The impact on our customers during the work will be minimal but the improvement to the station once the work is carried out will be evident. Knaresborough is a beautiful station, steeped in history and this will create an even more welcoming arrival to the town.”

The station upgrade is part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan. Additional funding has been provided by the Railway Heritage Trust, enabling the cosmetic improvements to be carried out at the same time as the structural work.

Andy Savage, executive director of the Trust added: “We are delighted to be able to contribute to improving the appearance and heritage state of the station in conjunction with the works going on there. We also hope, in due course, to be able to grant aid work to bring some of the empty rooms back into use.”