It’s Stations Day, celebrating the rail industry’s billions of pounds of investment in Britain’s railway stations.
The first ever Stations Day highlights how investment in stations is a central part of the industry’s long-term plan to change and improve.
A total of £5.2bn of public and private investment includes commitments to spread opportunity and boost local communities.
Working in partnership as one railway, this plan is transforming stations into vibrant community hubs and maximising economic benefits.
Here are five times Network Rail has delivered better stations for passengers:
1 – Liverpool Lime Street’s transformation
The completion of Liverpool Lime Street’s major upgrade in October marked a huge milestone for the Great North Rail Project – a multi-billion-pound scheme to improve transport in the region.
An eight-week closure of Merseyside’s gateway station enabled Network Rail to transform travel for the city, taking a historic site into the future with digital technology and 4D modelling.
Engineers replaced almost 2,000m of track, redesigned and lengthened platforms and built two new ones, all of which will help provide passengers with more seats on more trains in and out of the city. In fact, the upgrade has enabled three new services an hour – an increase of just under 20%.
Passengers now benefit from longer trains and more frequent, more reliable services.
2 – Team Victoria
A ground-breaking initiative to unite the staff of multiple companies at London Victoria station quickly resulted in better customer service.
The launch of Team Victoria, which brings different teams together through one brand and uniform, led to a 13 per cent improvement in passenger satisfaction in just a year.
London Victoria is Britain’s second busiest station with almost 80 million passenger journeys a year. However, it had the lowest customer satisfaction scores of any major station in the country with only 67 per cent of station users satisfied with the station and the customer service provided. That score has jumped to 80 per cent.
3 – A new era for London Bridge
London Bridge station’s its historic £1bn redevelopment redevelopment has won a string of awards since Prince William officially reopened the terminus in May 2018.
Its most recent accolades include Transport Project of the Year at the prestigious British Construction Industry Awards 2018, which recognised London Bridge station for its “creativity, innovation, economic and social benefit”. It also won the overall ICE 200 Award. ICE 200 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Network Rail transformed the station as part of the government-sponsored Thameslink Programme. The project’s major works include:
• A vast new concourse larger than the pitch at Wembley to unite 15 platforms for the first time
• Modern facilities making the station fully accessible for all
• Two new entrances on Tooley Street to connect the north and south sides of the station
• Five new platforms to allow Cannon Street services to once again stop at London Bridge
• Entirely remodelled tracks through and around the station to allow more trains to travel through London
4 – Connecting communities in Cambridge
Cambridgeshire’s newest station opened in May 2017 to help provide links with the growing areas of North Cambridge.
We delivered Cambridge North station, funded by the Department for Transport, in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council as part of the Railway Upgrade Plan. It provides improved access and journey times for passengers, and connections to London’s King’s Cross and Liverpool Street stations.
Furthermore, the station has a green roof with solar panels that provide up to 10% of its power.
See how we did it:
5 – Improving access across the network
Creating spaces that make our railway equally accessible to all is an integral part of our Railway Upgrade Plan.
Inclusive design is the aim to deliver spaces and places for everyone. It’s a core design principle that leads to greater accessibility, convenience and enjoyment.
London Bridge station is a high-profile example of the work we have been doing to improve access and inclusion for passengers. It now has braille under handrails, which means passengers will be able to feel braille signage underneath handrails and know which platform they’re heading towards.
Pre-recorded announcements also help people who struggle to hear public announcement systems due to voice pitch and speaker clarity; digital announcements provide pre-recorded messages that are crystal clear.
