Press release -
Southern passengers in line for better loos and new waiting room at Eastbourne station
Southern Rail contractors this week started work at Eastbourne Station putting in new toilets, a better waiting room and a wider, step-free entrance.
The improvements to the station concourse will be finished by the spring and complement work already carried out by East Sussex County Council to remodel the taxi rank and, in the future, to pedestrianise the surrounding area.
The improvements, in detail, are:
The waiting room will be remodelled with extra seats and a new passenger information desk
The former information desk will make way for new station toilets, which will be on the paid side of the ticket gates, restricting anti-social behaviour
The accessible toilet will remain next to Subway and will be refreshed
A new wider step-free entrance to the station from the cycle and car park/taxi rank. The stepped side entrance will close
The waiting room may be closed or partially closed for about three weeks during the work.
Station Manager Simon Greenfield said: “Passengers will really welcome the new toilets, which will be a huge improvement on what we have now, and the move to the paid side of the station gates will help us restrict the anti-social behaviour we’ve seen. Meanwhile, the new entrance will help our passengers with accessibility needs.”
ends
Notes to editors
For more information email press.office@gtrailway.com or call
Southern and Gatwick Express press office: 0203 750 2030
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Govia Thameslink Railway
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) operates Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express services as follows:
Thameslink – services between Bedford and Brighton, Luton/St Albans and Sutton, Wimbledon and Sevenoaks
Great Northern – services between London and Welwyn, Hertford, Peterborough, Cambridge and King’s Lynn
Southern – services between London and the Sussex coast (Brighton, Worthing, Eastbourne, Bognor Regis, Hastings) and parts of Surrey, Kent and Hampshire (Ashford International, Southampton, Portsmouth)
Gatwick Express – fast, non-stop direct services between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria
GTR is the largest rail franchise in the UK in terms of passenger numbers, trains, revenue and staff. The operator carries about 326 million passenger journeys per year, and employs around 6,500 people. Its aim is to improve services across all four networks.
Ticket revenue is passed to the government, which pays GTR a fee to operate the franchise. The fee is adjusted according to how well the train service is performing.
Southern has the fastest passenger growth in the UK with numbers into London having doubled in 12 years - compared with the industry as a whole doubling over the past 20 years. To meet this growth and to future-proof the network, GTR is modernising the rail service for passengers.
GTR has introduced more new trains in the past year than all other franchises put together, with 500 new carriages so far.
The transformative £7bn Thameslink Programme will bring hundreds more daily services from 2018, increasing the number of trains though the central London core from up to 15 to 24 trains per hour. Network Rail has also launched a £300m programme to improve resilience across the GTR network.
GTR is modernising how it works, with new technology in use at our stations and on our trains, smartcard ticketing and a new, flexible on-board role on many Southern services. This ensures fewer cancellations, and with more staff on board our trains now than ever before, passengers are enjoying a much better level of on-board customer service.
The GTR investment programme for stations includes funding for more CCTV, toilet refurbishments, new retail facilities, help points and car park improvements – as well as plans for increased motorcycle storage and improved transport integration.
www.southernrailway.com, www.gatwickexpress.com, www.thameslinkrailway.com,www.greatnorthernrail.com
