Operator announces massive commitment over five-year period

Network Rail is to spend £3.25bn refurbishing the UK’s stations over a five-year period.

The operator will spend anything from tens of thousands of pounds to tens of millions between now and spring 2014, on everything from a new waiting shelter up to large station modernisations.

Operations and customer service director, Robin Gisby, said that stations were the “top priority” for Network Rail and the railway’s “front door.”

He said improvements to stations should be based on users’ feedback and that the operator was launching a three-month research project asking passengers to tell it where they wanted to see investment. Network Rail said it will use the results of the survey along with the Station Champions report commissioned by transport minister, Lord Adonis, and expected shortly, to decide priorities.

Key commitments, by funding, include:

£100m+ Birmingham New Street, Blackfriars, Edinburgh Waverley, King's Cross, London Bridge,

£20m+ Farringdon, Cannon Street, Glasgow Central, Paddington

£10m+ Bromsgrove, Leicester, Maidstone East, Manchester Victoria, Nottingham, Oxford, Putney, Reading Green Park,

Possible improvements to the stations include:

  • New passenger information systems
  • New lifts and stairways
  • New toilets, waiting rooms and shelters
  • New, longer or resurfaced platforms
  • Bigger or refurbished ticket offices and ticket halls
  • Better lighting and CCTV
  • Smarter stations - redecoration, more seating and retail opportunities.

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