Work Completed on St. Albans City Station Platform Extension Project

Work to extend the platforms at St. Albans City Station, making way for 12 carriage trains, 50% longer than the current 8 carriage services.

Transport Minister Theresa Villiers joined First Capital Connect bosses at a ribbon cutting ceremony, marking the completion of the work, which has largely been done without disruption to services or passengers.

The work is part of the £5.5 billion Thameslink Programme aimed at adding capacity to services on the Bedford to Brighton line. Significant work is also underway to modernise, extend, and create new interchanges at Blackfriars and Farringon. 

In a statement at the event, Mrs. Villiers said, “I know St Albans commuters have had a bit of a

tough time recently and I hope this will be good news for them and a

really welcome step. As a government we are very supportive of

this programme. We have inherited a real overcrowding problem from the

previous government and we all know that this is one of the most

overcrowded lines in the country, so we want to provide relief for

commuters and today is an important step towards introducing those 50

per cent longer trains.”

The platform extensions follow the introduction of new trains on the service which have already added significant capacity.

Despite the problems faced by commuters earlier last winter, it would appear there is a good chance that commuting into London is about to get a bit more comfortable for the many thousands of St. Albans people who travel on the line every day.