A brand-new station at Twickenham opened today, providing 5.5 million annual passengers with a bigger, brighter and better travelling experience.
The completion of the station comes just in time for rugby fans flocking to Twickenham Stadium for the 2020 Guinness Six Nations Championship, with England playing their first matches at home since reaching the Rugby World Cup Final.
Delivered as the first phase of the wider Twickenham Gateway project, the new station has a modern design, including more space for passengers, step-free access to all platforms, 250 cycle spaces, an enhanced queuing system for match days at Twickenham stadium and a larger revamped ticket office.
The Twickenham Gateway project is being delivered by Solum, a joint venture between Network Rail and Kier Property which transforms stations in the South East to deliver improvements for passengers, new homes and commercial space at no cost to fare or taxpayers.
The new station which includes a public plaza, half the size of Twickenham Stadium’s Rugby pitch, will help transform the area surrounding the station providing a multi-million-pound boost to the local community.
Phase two of the development will see six retail units open and over 100 new homes built by early 2021. A number of the new homes, a mix between 1, 2- and 3-bedroom homes, are already built and are available for sale.
Tim Shaw, Head of Solum, said:
"The opening of the new Twickenham station is the culmination of years of hard work and is the first step in our multi-million pound plans to transform the station, which will deliver new homes, a public plaza and shops. We would like to thank passengers and residents once again for their patience as we have undertaken these critical improvement works which will radically transform journeys."
Mark Killick, Network Rail Wessex route director, said:
"We are proud of the transformation of Twickenham station, which will improve the travel experience for passengers on a daily basis and reduce congestion for rugby and music fans when the railway service supports these large events.
"The development will also help to transform the surrounding community, and this collaborative programme shows how the rail industry can work together with external partners to fund and deliver rail upgrades that will not only benefit passengers but also benefit the communities where they live through regeneration of the station area."
Mark Hopwood, South Western Railway’s Managing Director, said:
"For our 5.5m passengers who use the station every year, I’m sure they’ll be delighted that the old, cramped station has been replaced by a new, modern much bigger station.
"A larger ticket hall, more cycle bays, and new lifts improving accessibility for everyone, transforms the everyday travelling experience for millions of our passengers commuting to work, as well as for fans attending special events and match days at Twickenham stadium.
“We’d like to thank our passengers for their patience during the station’s construction."
