03.08.12
New and extended parking for stations funded
Four new schemes to improve parking facilities at English stations have been approved, with £15m funding.
South West Trains, First Capital Connect, Chiltern Railways and Greater Anglia made successful bids from the £100m station improvement fund. The fund requires projects to provide a benefit to passengers as well as a financial return.
Ten further bids have already been funded, meaning investment in the final tranche of this scheme will be £26m.
Rail minister Norman Baker said: “Adding capacity to heavily used station car parks makes it more likely people will park the car and take the train rather than try to drive the whole way. This initiative fits in well with the work we are doing to make the door to door journey smoother and lower in carbon.”
Robin Gisby, managing director, network operations at Network Rail, said: “We have now allocated almost £100m towards projects which will improve passengers’ experience of travelling by rail and help us deliver a better value for money railway.”
Alec McTavish, director of policy and planning at ATOC, said: “The improvements made now will raise the value of rail franchises overall, which will generate more money for the Government and reduce the need for taxpayer subsidy in the future.
“We have been impressed at each stage of this programme with the innovative approaches from bidders in finding ways to make passengers’ and taxpayers’ money go further.”
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Applicant
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Project
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South West Trains
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Winchester car park extension – construction of a single deck with 113 new spaces
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First Capital Connect
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Harpenden car park extension – construction of a new single deck with 220 new spaces
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Chiltern Railways
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Banbury multi-storey car park – construction of a new car park with 707 new spaces
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Greater Anglia
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Hatfield Peverel – construction of a new single deck car park with over 100 new spaces
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