Southeastern has begun work to modernise facilities and improve security in a bid to encourage passengers back to public transport

Part of the rail operator’s ongoing work to build a better railway will see £120,000 invested into the upgrade of station waiting rooms for Gillingham, Graveshead, and Herne Bay.

The work will see new seating, heating and lighting, passenger information systems, charging points and interior decoration with wood-effect laminate flooring to bring a warmer and more welcoming environment. The upgrades will also see improvements in security with additional CCTV.

Further refurbishment work will be undertaken to the booking hall at Canterbury East and the customer toilets at Lewisham.

Over £160,000 will be invested in the Grade II listed stations of Margate and Ramsgate, both of which recently featured on the TV programme ‘The Architecture The Railways Built’. The funding will see the ‘decluttering’ of the main atrium areas with unused furniture removed, fixtures and cables, repainting ceilings and entrance doors, and the cleaning and polishing of the original parquet flooring. This work comes as part of a longer-term project to both enhance and preserve the architectural and heritage features of these buildings.

More stations over the network will also be getting new seating and benches, design work will shortly commence on a brand new style of station meeting room using a ‘hub’ concept which may be pushed out more widely over the Southeastern Network.

Higham will see the installation of an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system which will work alongside the recently finished car park upgrade. Previous to the car park upgrade, cars had to park on rough ground. Folkstone West car park will also see planting carried out to improve the environment outside of the station.

34 Rail station car parks will see new motion-sensor LED lighting installed which will improve security whilst saving energy with a reduction in lighting levels to 20% whilst nobody is in the area. The new lighting will bring a reduction in the carbon footprint of the stations.

Waterloo East will see work carried out to replace the dated tiling and handrails on the ramp which leads to the main Waterloo station.

Hollingbourne Southeastern will see the refurbishment of a closed station building that is not currently used by passengers and will be used and run by the local community for events such as cinema nights. The building will also see electrical works, structural and window repairs completed and the toilets reinstated.

£330,000 will be invested in additional CCTV which is set to be installed at several train depots and siding throughout the network which will bring improved security whilst acting as a deterrent to vandals who damage and deface the railway.

David Wornham, Passenger Services Director for Southeastern, said: “Our number one priority is to win back our customers and reverse the shift from public transport to cars that occurred during the pandemic.

“Passengers will benefit from this investment going to the places where it is needed the most to make station environments across our network more comfortable, and more attractive, and reduce our own carbon footprint.”