£3.75m work on railway station to start in 2020

WORK to improve a railway station in the West Country, replacing its ‘horrendous’ underpass, is on course to start next year, a council leader has said.

The £3.75m project for Gloucester Railway Station will see a revamp of the station’s forecourt and car park while creating a new junction on to the passing main road, Metz Way.

It will also see major work on the station’s underpass with a white-tiled tunnel replacing the grim passage people have to use at the moment.

Funding for the project was given by local enterprise partnership GFirst last year.

Yesterday station operator Great Western Railway said it was close to appointing a supplier for the work. City council leader Paul James hopes this will mean work will begin next year.

He said: “Suppliers are being appointed which will move the project one step further along.

“This is something the city has been wanting for a long time.

“Anybody who knows the station will say it does not present the city in suitable way.

“It is dated and has a subway which offers a horrendous experience. The city deserves better.”

A spokesman for Great Western Railway said: “We are currently going through the tender process and expect to be able to appoint our preferred supplier shortly.

“The work plans for improvements to the station forecourt, in keeping with the regeneration of the King’s Quarter, improved parking, pick up and drop off; improved access to the underpass, and a modernisation of that underpass with better lighting and drainage; and a new junction on Metz Way to improve the flow of traffic from or to our car park.”