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Waterloo improvements should benefit Basingstoke rail passengers
RAIL travellers going into London from Basingstoke may notice a difference at Waterloo station from today..
The new 220m balcony is being opened with the aim of reducing congestion at concourse level in time for the London 2012 Games.
The new balcony – the longest at any British railway station – is part of Network Rail’s £25m improvement project to transform the station and smooth the journey for some 300,000 passengers passing through each day.
This has been achieved by installing escalators and repositioning shops previously located in the middle of the main concourse. With new escalators and lifts, installed earlier in May, Waterloo station now has step-free access to Waterloo East.The new balcony will provide passengers with a wider choice of places to eat and shop with an extra 20,000 sq ft of retail space.
Once all the new units are open, the retail capacity within the station will total 55,000 sq ft across 38 stores.
Network Rail says its retail and commercial activities generate vital funds that are reinvested directly back into the railway, limiting costs to taxpayers.
Tim Shoveller, managing director of the Network Rail/South West Trains alliance said: “Waterloo, as many of our customers know, is a very busy station. We have over 90million passengers passing through every year and there is 30 per cent growth predicted by 2030 . Our challenge is to deliver extra capacity so our passengers can get the rail services they rely on.“We needed to find a radical solution to improve the space and facilities at Waterloo. The opening of the balcony, with the removal of retail units from the concourse, crucially reduces congestion while still providing the facilities expected at a modern station."
Passengers will now find it easier to get to and from their trains. The next crucial stage is to extend the platforms so we can run longer trains with more capacity, to cater for the predicted growth in passenger numbers.”
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