More comfort and communication for returning rail passengers

• Multimillion-pound improvement programme by Govia Thameslink Railway promises returning rail passengers a better station experience

• 1,500 square metres of waiting rooms, shelters and canopies built or refurbished – more weather protection than 2,000 umbrellas
• almost 3,000 new seats installed – more than the Royal Festival Hall
• over 100 new customer information screens installed, with a combined display area of over 50 square metres

Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern customers returning to their stations as lock-down restrictions ease will be able to enjoy a host of new features designed to give them a better journey experience.

Over the past year, the train operators’ parent company Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has installed around 1,500 square metres of new or refurbished waiting rooms and shelters, almost 3,000 seats, and over 100 new customer information screens.

The improvements are part of a network-wide, multimillion-pound programme involving more than 1,000 projects, many requested by local passenger and community groups, at 250 stations. Launched in September 2020, the programme is now over 90 per cent complete.

Illustrating the programme’s scale, Chris Fowler, Customer Services Director for Southern, said: “To make your stations more comfortable there are now over 150 new or refurbished waiting rooms, canopies and platform shelters, nearly 3,000 new seats, and 90 re-furbished toilets. That’s more shelter than you’d get from 2,000 umbrellas and enough new seats to fill the Royal Festival Hall!”

Notable among the new and refurbished waiting rooms are Lingfield in Surrey and Eridge in East Sussex, both restored to railway heritage-style glory from previously derelict buildings. Eridge’s renovation attracted a £30,000 grant from the Railway Heritage Trust. In West Sussex, Burgess Hill’s new waiting room is a converted storage barn, originally built in 1841, that now displays award-winning landscape photography. [See editors’ notes below for full list, by county, of all stations with waiting room projects completed or under way.]

The once dull brick platform shelter at Penshurst in Kent has been transformed into a vibrant gallery for local artists. The restored 1867 Grade II Listed shelter at Ockley, Surrey is thought to be one of the UK’s oldest surviving examples of a timber platform shelter.

The new information screens will be welcomed by customers at 55 stations, from King's Lynn in Norfolk to Arundel in West Sussex. [See editors’ notes below for full list, by county, of all stations with new screens.]

If stacked in a pile the new screens would reach almost 60 metres, taller than Nelson’s Column. Their total screen area is over 50 square metres.

The modern screens have the latest software and display technology for better clarity, graphical options and reliability. Importantly, they all meet the latest accessibility requirements.

Chris Fowler said: “We are installing plenty of new screens where our customers told us they were most needed, as well as replacing some older screens with new ones. Putting additional screens towards the end of platforms encourages customers to spread out. This helps minimise crowding at busy times, which also speeds up boarding and improves punctuality. We’ve also installed more screens near station entrances because providing information before customers go through the gates can save them time and effort.”

Ends

Editors’ notes

Stations with waiting room projects complete or under way

East Sussex: Bishopstone, Cooden Beach, Eridge

West Sussex: Burgess Hill, Crawley, Haywards Heath, Littlehampton, Wivelsfield

Kent: Swanley, Swanscombe

Surrey: Holmwood, Hurst Green, Leatherhead, Lingfield, Riddlesdown, Sanderstead, Woldingham

London: Alexandra Palace, Carshalton, Coulsdon South, Selhurst, Tulse Hill

Hertfordshire: Knebworth

Stations with new customer information screens

Norfolk: Downham Market, King’s Lynn

Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire: Ashwell & Morden, Foxton, Sandy, Shepreth

Hertfordshire: Baldock, Bayford, Hitchin, Knebworth, Letchworth Garden City, Potters Bar, Royston, Welham Green, Welwyn North

North London: Bowes Park, Enfield Chase, Grange Park, Hadley Wood, New Barnet, Oakleigh Park,

South London: Carshalton Beeches, Catford, Cheam, Coulsdon Town, Crofton Park, North Dulwich, Queen’s Road Peckham, South Bermondsey, South Croydon, Sutton

Surrey: Caterham, Earlswood, Epsom Downs, Merstham

East Sussex: London Road (Brighton), Newhaven Town, Polegate

West Sussex: Aldrington, Arundel, Billingshurst, Bosham, Faygate, Goring-by-Sea, Hassocks, Haywards Heath, Hove, Ifield, Portslade, Pulborough, Southwick

Kent: Appledore, Leigh, Ore, Rye

About GTR’s wider station improvement programme

GTR’s network-wide, multimillion-pound improvement programme involves over 1,000 projects, many suggested by local passenger and community groups, at more than 250 stations. While we’re working hard to achieve the punctuality and reliability our passengers rightly expect, we want them to know we are with them all the way and making their stations better places to pass through.

The vast number and range of improvements can be described under three themes:

1. Giving many stations a better ambience by redecorating, planting and installing artwork, often with substantial input from the local community

2. Making stations work better for passengers, improving comfort and safety with new waiting rooms and shelters, seating, lighting, information screens, defibrillators for public use, and accessibility schemes

3. Making stations more sustainable, with schemes such as electric vehicle charging points, secure facilities for cyclists, rainwater retention systems, and even bee gardens.

We’ve created dedicated web pages where passengers and local communities can get updates on what’s happening at their station. They can be found at:

• https://www.southernrailway.com/about-us/our-commitments/improving-your-stations
• https://www.greatnorthernrail.com/about-us/our-commitments/improving-your-stations
• https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/about-us/our-commitments/improving-your-stations