Engineering firms will welcome the UK Secretary of State for Transport’s plans to upgrade a total of 150 railway stations across the UK by 2014. New railway stations will also be built at Birmingham New Street and Central London under plans in the British government’s Transport White Paper.
The first tranche of funding for the £550m redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station was announced. The project will include the construction of a concourse fives times bigger than the current space and a glass roof. The scheme’s partners are looking for a total of £300m public funding for the scheme, which is due to open in 2013.
Transport Minister, Ruth Kelly, has also approved plans for the £3.55bn cross-London Thameslink programme, which will see new stations at Blackfriars and London Bridge in the City of London. Completion of the project as a whole is scheduled for 2015, with the bulk of improvements made in time for the 2012 Olympics.
Reading station will also see a £425m redevelopment, with the construction of new platforms and tracks, and Farringdon station in London will undergo extensive improvement work.