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£50m to convert Waterloo's Eurostar platforms
Katherine Barney11.06.08
The Government is facing a £50 million bill to convert the mothballed Waterloo Eurostar station into a commuter terminal.
The terminal was originally built at a cost of £135million but it has been defunct since Eurostar was transferred to St Pancras at the end of last year.
The Department for Transport wants domestic services to run into the five platforms at what was Waterloo International.
The move would be a boost to hard-pressed travellers, whose plight has been highlighted by the Evening Standard's Seat for Every Commuter campaign.
But the cost of converting it to allow South West Trains to boost services from the station - used by 300,000 passengers every day - has been revealed in a report from the Office for Rail Regulation.
It says Network Rail has asked for £54 million for the refurbishment but the ORR has recommended £49 million.
The former chairman of London TravelWatch, Brian Cook, had previously said it would cost just £5 million to make the platforms suitable for domestic trains.
However, a spokesman for NR said the platforms had been designed to cope with longdistance, low frequency operations rather than commuter services.
The ORR said work to bring the five quarter-mile long platforms into use should start soon so that domestic services can use the station by the end of the year.
South West Trains, which operates Britain's most overcrowded services, wants to use the platforms for its longerdistance trains, serving Exeter, Southampton and Portsmouth.
A DfT spokesman said: "Work to bring one of the platforms into use should start soon, with a limited number of domestic services expected to use the station by the end of the year. With regard to medium-term use we are currently considering use of the remaining platforms as part of the wider development of the station and it is too early to state costs."
The spending estimates were contained in June's periodic review by the ORR but it is still in draft form and a final announcement is due in three months.
But the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "[Waterloo International] cost a staggering amount to build so it's beyond belief that it cannot be used for the commuter services that are so urgently needed."
There are also plans to lengthen station platforms across the network, especially on suburban rail networks, to help ease overcrowding.
Reader views (8)
£54m? And that's only the initial estimate! Normally final cost is around 2x or 3x the original quoted price....
- Roland, London
Of course the costs are ridiculous but that’s what you get when something is run “not for profit”: no driver for cost or efficiency savings
- Marcus, London
The station should be kept for the Eurostar trains.
If even every fourth train only ran to Waterloo from Paris or Brussels for the convenience of making a southern England connection. Trains from Waterloo serve more than Dover & Folkstone.
Keep the station for Southern England Eurostar connections.
- A.Winsley, London England
50 million does sound an awful lot - it works out, on even my dodgy maths, at 10 million per platform - which does seem ridiculously high. I think poor old London is getting ripped off by its contractors again......
- Jeff Bronstein, Hobart, Australia
I too would like to see some Eurostar services reinstated at Waterloo. For those who live in the SW to SE sector a slower trip based on Waterloo is less hassle, preferable and quicker overall than having to cross town to St Pancras.
- Brian, London, UK
The real item missing from this story is - what is needed to make these platforms "suitable" for commuter trains? What is wrong with them? Are they too high? A possibility I suppose. Too short - very unlikely. Too long - it doesn't matter does it? It seems to me the only problem might be the access (Only 4 escalators per 2 platforms might be a bit of a crush at times). However, this should be easily put right, and talking in telephone numbers about the price is both unnecessary and ridiculous.
- Sal, London, UK
This is ludicrous. How can it possibly cost tens of millions to use existing tracks and platforms? Netcrook Rail should be told to hand over the whole thing to Boris tomorrow morning.
- Teesbridge, SW18
The same old same old: you get a first quote and you can bet that it is in 99% of the cases a vast underestimation.
Many of us regular Eurostar travellers would like to see Waterloo International reopened for certain services. it is central and far easier to access than St Pancras.
- James, London
