A £1.7 million project to reconfigure and upgrade facilities at Ely station in Cambridgeshire has been completed and opened to passengers.

Work began in the spring to relocate the ticket office and create a new waiting room and booking hall on platform 1. They now provide an improved layout and better facilities and are now more accessible, and opened yesterday, Monday, 5th September.

As part of the upgrade, a number of accessibility improvements were carried out. including installation of a Changing Places toilet facility. These are larger than other accessible toilets and are fitted with additional equipment to support disabled people who need extra assistance, including a changing bench and hoist. The facility is the first on Greater Anglia‘s network.

Seven disabled parking spaces have been installed near the station entrance, new automatic doors, levelling, and resurfacing at the front of the station have created step-free access, and a new safer zebra crossing has been laid between the car park and the entrance.

In addition to improvements in accessibility, new ticket gates have been installed and the entire station has been redecorated. A grant from the Railway Heritage Trust provided funds to clean and restore the front of the station building and install new signage, with additional funds for the project also provided by Govia Thameslink Railway.

Greater Anglia’s Asset Management Director, Simone Bailey, said: “This work has transformed Ely station and we’re pleased that the new facilities are now open.

“Passengers will notice a huge difference with a bigger, brighter booking hall, a new waiting room and a much-improved layout with easier access for everyone.

“Investing in upgrades to stations across the network is extremely important to Greater Anglia, demonstrating our commitment to providing excellent facilities and service to our customers.”

Rebecca Richardson, Greater Anglia’s Accessibility Manager, said: “I’m delighted that we have been able to include our first Changing Places facility within this redevelopment.

“We want to make sure that everyone can have a good journey with us, so this is a really positive step at a busy interchange station that sees a lot of passengers from all over the country.

“Many of our stations date from Victorian times and don’t often afford enough space for improvements like this, but as Ely was being completely redeveloped it presented an excellent opportunity.

“This is certainly something we will consider during future station upgrades elsewhere on our network, where possible.”

Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director for Great Northern and Thameslink, said: “We’re committed to making travel on our services an easier, better experience for everyone, so we’re delighted to have worked with Greater Anglia on this comprehensive improvement project. The collaboration and pooling of resources means the investment we’ve made from our network-wide station improvement programme has been much more effective for Ely than it could have been on its own.”