A massive £800m upgrade of London Waterloo rail services will see platforms at six Surrey trains stations extended.
Major work over the next three years - led by South West Trains (SWT) and Network Rail - will include lengthening platforms at stations on the Reading line.
These includes Camberley, Chertsey, Egham, Sunningdale, Virginia Water and Wokingham - and towns such as Ascot and Bracknell, which will also have improved electrical facilities to accommodate the lengthier trains.
London Waterloo, Britain’s busiest railway station, has 234 million passenger journeys per year, and is used by thousands of commuters from Surrey every day.
The planned investment includes:
- 150 new train carriages, first entering service in mid-2017, which will operate between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside, which includes Ashford and Staines
- A new fleet of Siemens built Class 707 trains, which offer free WiFi, wider doors to make it easier to get on and off the train, and better air conditioning
- Rebuilding the former Waterloo International Terminal, allowing platforms 20-24 to be brought back into use with a new concourse, track and signalling
- Extend platforms 1-4 to allow longer ten-car trains to run to London suburban statons. This work will take place during August 2017 and requires significant changes to the usual passenger timetable
Browse through our gallery of 'London Waterloo down the years'
The Department for Transport is funding the huge project as part of Network Rail’s £40 billion Railway Upgrade Plan.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin claimed it is "the biggest upgrade since the Victorian times".
He said: “From 2017, passengers will benefit from a bigger and better London Waterloo station and 150 new train carriages providing more space for passengers arriving at London Waterloo over the three-hour morning peak – this is in addition to the 108 extra carriages that have already been added since 2013.
"These improvements will make journeys better for hard working commuters, in the capital and across Britain.”
There will be enhancements at Vauxhall and Surbiton stations to increase capacity.
A new GreenSpeed Driver Advisory System will collect real time data to calculate exact speed of train to improve punctuality.
London Waterloo was used by more than 99 million passengers last year, and the full rollout will take total number of carriages on the network to 1,599, compared to just 1,022 in 1996
Sir Peter Hendy, Network Rail chairman, said: “Let’s face it, this is not before time. Since 1996, the numbers of passengers on routes into Waterloo have more than doubled - rising from 108 million passenger journeys a year to over 230 million. And this increase is showing no sign of slowing down.
“The plans are a long way from being the complete answer to the peak time congestion on this packed commuter route, but they will make a big difference.”
The work is due to be completed by December 2018.
It was not mentioned if the upgrade includes plans to rename more services as Trainy McTrainface.
