The Costain/Hochtief joint venture (CHJV) carrying out an £80 refurbishment of Reading Station has handed over the first of five new platforms to client Network Rail.
The new Platform 4 has been completed and a new temporary Platform 10 has taken shape in the middle of the existing running lines with tracks diverted around it.
Work on site started in August 2011 and will continue until summer 2014. The number of platforms is being increased from 10 to 15, the footbridge over the tracks is being replaced by a much higher capacity ‘transfer deck’ and staircases from it down to the platforms are being replaced by escalators.
Additionally, new buildings will be constructed at the north and south entrances of the station, a new roof will be built across the site and virtually its entire infrastructure will be renewed.
The new Platform 4 on the southeast side of the station was the first of the five new platforms to be handed over. It will be used for local services.
Project director Brian Fisher said: “Platforms are relatively straightforward structures. The concrete bits are easy – the difficulty comes in building them in the middle of a live railway, which is extremely complex.”
The new temporary platform 10, which will remain in situ for the next 18 months while the project is underway, was largely prefabricated off-site and lifted into position in sections from 24-27 December during a blockade, or closure, of the lines. The lifting was carried out by Ainscough Crane Hire with a Liebherr lattice boom crawler crane. {{image2}}
The station renewal is just part of a larger £850m six-year revamp of the entire rail system in the Reading area that will include renewal of track, signalling and bridges.
Network Rail aims to remove a bottleneck by adding track capacity. A new viaduct west of Reading will carry fast mainline services over freight and relief lines.
