Improvement work will start work next week at Chiltern Railways’ third busiest station, High Wycombe, as part of a £4 million Network Rail project which will see the lengthening of the northbound platforms and the introduction of a footbridge.
Network Rail and Chiltern Railways are undertaking the project to provide long term additional capacity at the station and along the route to provide for an extra 1,000 peak passengers into London by April 2019.
John Salmon, area manager for Network Rail, said: “Work to extend platforms is incredibly important as the number of passengers travelling on this route continues to rise. Working in partnership with Chiltern Railways we are investing in the future of the railway, enabling longer trains to call at the stations and provide more seats for passengers. There will be some short term disruption while the work is completed but the long term benefits will far outweigh this.”
Jennifer Payne, customer service director at Chiltern Railways, explained: “This work is excellent news for customers from High Wycombe as it will enable us to run longer trains in the future. It will also ensure that we are able to deliver long-term capacity as demand for our services grows.”
The subway linking platforms 2 and 3 will be closed from the beginning of June when the platform lengthening begins. A temporary bridge will be in operation until work is complete and a new bridge is installed. Customers with accessibility needs who need to transfer between platforms 2 and 3 will need to use the complimentary shuttle service that will run between the two platforms during the work as the temporary bridge will not have lift facilities.
In addition to work at the station, work will also take place on the track over a number of Sundays from May to December. Passengers are advised to check before travelling.
From 27 April, until the completion of the improvement works, around 20 spaces in the car park will be utilised as storage and compound for the project and therefore be temporarily unavailable. This is unavoidable in order to complete the work and will be in place for the shortest amount of time possible.
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