Costain beat Laing O’Rourke and Morgan Sindall in the final shortlist to pick up the £80m station contract, rebuilding platforms, services and ticket hall. The scheme is part of a wider project designed to help relieving congestion on the Great Western Main Line.
Network Rail project director Bill Henry said: “The five new five new platforms we’re building at Reading will increase capacity, enable us to get more trains through and mean better journeys for passengers. The new station will be more accessible, more modern, and improve the experience of the 14m people that travel through every year.
“This is just one part of a massive upgrade of the railway through Reading. We’ll work closely with our contractors to make sure we get the job done with as little disruption as possible to the railway and people using the station.”
Improvements for passengers at Reading station will include two new entrances and a new footbridge with lifts and escalators to all platforms. The station environment will be improved with a new roof, new lighting, and new retail and customer facilities.
Contractors will start work on site this summer and the first new platform, on the southern lines to Gatwick and London Waterloo, will open at the beginning of 2012. The remaining new platforms, new entrances and footbridge will be completed in spring 2013 and station works will be completed in 2014.
The redevelopment of Reading station is part of a wider project to upgrade the Great Western Main Line through Reading. This will see the construction of a viaduct to take fast main lines over slower freight and relief lines, along with associated changes to track and signalling designed to increase capacity and cut delays.
A £67m contract to build the new viaduct is being competed for by Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Morgan Est and BAM Nuttall. Scheduled start date for this element is 1 January 2013, completing March 2015.
Construction of train care depot facilities is scheduled to begin on site on 1 January 2012, completing in August 2013. The shortlist for this is Vinci, Laing O’Rourke and Volker Fitzpatrick. Network Rail expects the contract value to be £76m.
Click here for full details of Network Rail's plans for Reading.
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