People travelling from Eltham station are now able to wait for their trains in greater comfort following the completion of a £120,000 scheme to fully enclose three platform waiting areas.
The station at Eltham was built by British Rail and opened in 1985 but the design of the platform waiting areas had the front entrances exposed to the elements.
That has now been fixed thanks to the work carried out by Southeastern and funded by Network Rail.
Three waiting areas on Platforms 1 and 2 were to be fully enclosed with glazed panelling and an automatic sliding door for easy, accessible entry.
The work started in November 2023 and has now been completed, with all three covered waiting areas open for customer use.
Mark Knowles, Southeastern station manager for Eltham said:
“I love train travel, but it is less fun if you have to wait on an exposed part of the platform when it’s cold, wet, and windy.
“Having somewhere on the station where you can shelter properly from the elements makes a big difference, and it’s great that we now have these three waiting areas fully enclosed.
“They are being well-used by our customers, and the feedback has been very positive indeed.”
Thomas Freeman, Senior Commercial Scheme Sponsor at Network Rail said:
“We are delighted to continue to invest in our stations because our customers feel the immediate benefits. We’re pleased to have funded the scheme at Eltham delivered by Southeastern – one of many that will be carried out over the course of this year.”
The work at Eltham is part of a wider £2.6m improvement programme that is taking place at over 20 Southeastern stations. Funded by Network Rail, there are a large number of projects ongoing, including the refurbishment of the accessible toilet at Bexley, and adding extra customer information screens. Work is also underway to install a second women’s toilet in Orpington station that will be situated on the busy London-bound platform.
