VICTORIA GETS £500m UPGRADE
12 Sep 2005
London Underground’s busiest station, Victoria, is to be substantially rebuilt at a cost of £500 million. Swindon firm, Scott Wilson Railways has been awarded the contract to design the new station (see artist’s impression above.)
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When complete, the Victoria Station Upgrade project will increase the size of the station by 50 per cent, with a new ticket hall, lifts and escalators to ease congestion and provide step-free access from street level to the Victoria, Circle and District line platforms.
Says London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, “The £500m Victoria Station Upgrade project is a great example of the investment TfL (Transport for London) is now making to improve the Tube and transport in London. It is essential to support the continued growth and development of London.”
Mr. Livingstone went on to say that the new enlarged station would fully support the extra capacity on offer from the new Victoria line once new trains and signalling are installed in 2013.
“This project would not have been possible without the investment now being delivered by the TfL five-year £10bn investment programme. We are now seeing the benefits of being able to plan and invest in London’s future, denied to this great city for so long,” the Mayor continued.
75 million passengers use the tube station every year. Currently chronic congestion during peak hours means the Underground station shuts temporarily to passengers until the platforms clear.
Commenting on the 2-year £3.7m contract Brian Hyland, Project Director for Scott Wilson Railways said, “This commission will involve challenging current concept designs... The multi-disciplinary teams working on the project will be managed from our Victoria office, which is ideally situated close to the station site.”
The VSU project stands outside the London Underground Public Private Partnership. A contract to undertake the infrastructure work will be competitively tendered when the design work is complete.