Friday 21 Jan 2011
WANDSWORTH TOWN UPGRADE WORK BEGINS
- Region & Route:
- | Southern
Work started this week to prepare for the construction of a new entrance and ticket office at Wandsworth Town station, providing better facilities for passengers.
The new entrance and ticket office, located on Old York Road, will include a new accessible ticket desk window, plus new automatic doors, ticket vending machines and automated ticket gates. The existing ticket office on platforms 2 and 3 will be modified to create an extra passenger waiting area.
Richard O’Brien, Network Rail’s route director for Wessex, said: “An important part of building a bigger and better railway is to provide facilities at stations which better meet the needs of today’s passengers. This upgrade at Wandsworth Town will bring long-lasting benefits for the thousands who use it every day.”
Ravi Govindia, Wandsworth Council’s transport and regeneration spokesman, said: "Old York Road is an attractive and popular part of the town centre and the rather scruffy station facilities have looked out of place for years. This joint-funded project will put the situation right and is another step forward for the regeneration of Wandsworth Town. The new purpose built entrance will also help solve the congestion problems in the subway tunnel which has become increasingly crowded in recent years as more and more people use the station."
Christian Neill, head of stations for South West Trains said: “We welcome this scheme to deliver improved facilities at Wandsworth Town. The new station building will provide much needed improvements to the station and will provide passengers with improved service information, CCTV and more ticket vending machines making it easier for passengers to buy their train tickets."
The entrance and upgraded facilities are due to be completed in Summer 2011.
Passengers can continue to enter the station from the existing Old York Road entrance for the duration of the work. However, the automatic ticket machines will be relocated temporarily back into the subway and other manned ticket office facilities will be re-instated on platforms 2 and 3 until the new entrance is complete.
Notes to editors
The national stations improvement programme (NSIP) is a £150m Department for Transport backed rail industry scheme to enhance150 medium sized stations in England and Wales. Typically the initiative responds to the key needs of passengers, to provide safe, secure and comfortable stations, and provide suitable information.
Approximate funding breakdown:
- National stations improvement programme - £990k
- Wandsworth borough council - £250k
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