Train station footbridge set for refurbishment (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)
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St Albans City Station footbridge set for refurbishment
8:30am Tuesday 12th March 2013 in News
By Rebecca Perring, Reporter
Commuters using St Albans City Station are to benefit from a smarter and more pleasant platform to replace the current uneven and leaking footbridge.
The refurbishment will take place from April 1 in line with keeping with the rest of the station that benefitted from a £5m upgrade in 2009.
Keith Jipps, customer service director for First Capital Connect, said: "We are delighted to see this essential work being delivered for the benefit of our passengers.
"St Albans is our busiest station on the Thameslink route outside London and the upgrade in 2009 really brought it into the 21st century with a larger ticket hall, passenger lifts and a multi-storey car park.
"The work to the footbridge will make it smarter, brighter and much more pleasant for our passengers. It compliments a series of projects along the route which we are promoting through our Better Stations campaign."
Network Rail will be carrying out the work at the station which is First Capital Connect’s busiest outside the capital with over six million passengers a year.
The footbridge is currently in a poor state of repair: it leaks, the floor is uneven and water has flooded into the lift making it less reliable, which has caused several passenger complaints in recent years.
As part of the repairs, side panels will be stripped, the roof will be renewed and new non-slip floor and brighter lighting will be installed.
The stair nosings will also be replaced and new low and high level hand rails will be installed. The entire bridge will then be repainted.
The contractors, Network Rail, will be setting up a site in the Ridgmont Road car park, taking up 13 spaces, but First Capital Connect said there is enough space to accommodate this.
During rush hour commuters have been warned not to stand under the scaffolding, which will go up on the platforms around the base of the bridge.
Work will be carried out in the early hours of the morning between 12:00am and 5:00am.
