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Thursday 24 Feb 2011

VITAL MAINTENANCE FOR WAVERLEY’S SOUTH RAMP

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Edinburgh Waverley station’s south ramp is to undergo a programme of essential refurbishment between March and May as part of the £130m project to renew the station’s roof and enhance its passenger facilities.

From Friday March 4 until the end of May no taxis or private vehicles will be able to access the station while the structure is excavated, waterproofed and resurfaced.

To help reduce disruption for passengers an additional taxi rank, accommodating up to 12 taxis, will be created on Market Street for the start of the works and the existing taxi rank on Waverley Bridge will also remain available.

For passengers with restricted mobility, step-free access will be available via New Street car park where free, time limited, pick-up and drop-off by taxis and private vehicles will be permitted.

In addition, a dedicated phone-line will be installed close to the existing taxi rank for passengers with restricted mobility to contact customer support at East Coast trains. They will provide assistance and arrange taxi pick-up from New Street car park.

Ron McAulay, Network Rail director Scotland, said: “This project is vital to the long-term future of one of Scotland’s busiest stations and disruption for motorists cannot be avoided.

“We have done everything possible to minimise the length of time the ramp will be unavailable and to put in place a range of measures to limit inconvenience for passengers.”

Network Rail’s £130m upgrade to Edinburgh Waverley will see the station’s 34,000m2 roof entirely replaced by 2014. Funded through Network Rail’s renewals budget, the project will see 28,000 clear glass panels installed over the next three years, flooding the station with natural light and improving the environment for passengers.

The improvements to Waverley will also result in new fully-accessible entrances from Market Street and from Princes Street. The concourse will be resurfaced, furniture will be cleaned or removed and building exteriors will get a makeover. Work will progress in phases with minimum disruption to train services and the operation of the station.

The project to enhance Waverley Steps began two weeks ago. The government-funded scheme will improve accessibility to Princes Street by creating a new covered step and escalator access between Princes Street and the north entrance to Waverley as well as lift access from the station to Princes Street via the roof of Princes Mall.

The first phase of the works will take around 10 months with the steps reopening in December 2011. The second phase of the works to install lifts will completed by July 2012.