Adonis pledges £50m for ten ‘left behind’ railway stations

19 Nov 09
The government has agreed to pay £50m to improve ten railway stations in England
By Helen Mooney

20 November 2009

The government has agreed to pay £50m to improve ten railway stations in England.

The money will be used to make urgent changes to passenger facilities, including shops and car parks.

The announcement follows a report, Better rail stations,  published on November 17 by the government’s railway ‘champions’, former Virgin Trains chief executive Chris Green and Town and Country Planning Association president Sir Peter Hall. They described the ten as having been ‘left behind’.

Many of the stations – which include major terminals and junctions such as Manchester Victoria, London’s Clapham Junction and Crewe – have old Victorian buildings and have very low customer satisfaction ratings. 

The other seven stations picked out for improvement were Barking, Stockport, Warrington Bank Quay, Preston, Wigan North Western, Luton and Liverpool Central.

The report warned that train stations should not be seen in isolation. ‘Stations are deeply entwined with their local community and effectively act as the gateway to both town and railway. They leave passengers with their lasting impressions of both – a dilapidated station is bad business for both town and railway.’

Announcing the additional funding, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said: ‘I want every station to be a good station – a hub of local community life and somewhere that you wouldn’t mind spending time, with adequate facilities.’

‘I support the report’s recommendations of minimum standards for stations – classed by size – in terms of information, car and bike parking, facilities and environment.

‘I intend to make these minimum standards a requirement in future rail franchise agreements with train operating companies.’

The report follows Network Rail’s own stations report, which summarised plans to invest £3.25bn between now and 2014.

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