St Albans station set for £5m improvement

Thameslink contractors are about to start work on a £5m scheme to improve facilities and ease passenger congestion at St Albans railway station.

The year-long project will put a two-storey extension on to the main station building for a premier-brand High Street convenience store.

It will also widen the second entrance on Ridgmont Road and create space on the centre island platform.

There will be extra toilets and extra space for shops.

Plans have been developed in close consultation with St Albans City & District Council and were made public last October.

The project is being funded by the Department for Transport.

Network Rail plans to build a second footbridge once the Thameslink improvements are completed to further relieve congestion.

Thameslink Senior Project Manager Julie Boyle said: “We’ve put a lot of work into developing these plans to give our passengers the very best scheme for this significant investment.

“St Albans is our busiest Thameslink station north of London with over 7.3 million passengers every year.

“To help our customers, we’ve radically improved the service with brand new, longer, more frequent 12-coach trains.

“Now is the time to improve the station with new facilities and help passengers through the station during the rush hour.”

Maria Cutler, Principal Economic Development Officer at St Albans City and District Council, said: “It’s great to see this investment going into the City station, including the infrastructure improvements and new cycling facilities.

“St Albans is a busy station for commuters, those on business and for those visiting our beautiful city. Having a smart station with decent facilities, at an important gateway to the City, is important.”

Enabling work

Contractor Walker Construction will initially be drilling trial holes and taking detailed measurements to test the design.

Bike racks at Ridgmont Road will then move, in early August, to Station Way. This will allow contractors to widen the entrance on this side of the station, and put up a new building intended to provide further station facilities for passengers.

Work on the central island platform also starts in early August.

In the main station building, ticket machines will also be relocated, next year, ready for the extension work to start.

Passenger improvements

Main station building

• A new extension in place of WHSmith and AMT with twice the footprint of the two existing stores, to house a premier-brand High Street convenience store over two storeys
• A new waiting area with a coffee shop in place of existing staff facilities, which move to platform 4
• Three extra ticket gates will be brought into use
• New male and female toilets on platform 1 toilets in addition to the accessible loo

Island platform 2 and 3

• More space to relieve crowding in the peak by moving the toilets to platforms
• 1 & 4
• The waiting room will be replaced with an all-glass facility
• This waiting room and toilets will be replaced

Platform 4

• New staff facilities, to replace those in the main station building
• Housed in a new building designed to enhance station facilities:

1. A wider entrance at Ridgmont Road with two more ticket gates
2. Twice the number of ticket machines
3. New toilets

ends