Swansea railway station overhaul revealed

Station to benefit from new waiting shelters, shops and toilets.

Plans to overhaul Swansea railway station have been revealed.

More than 1.6 million passengers who travel through the Swansea station every year are set to benefit from a much better rail travel experience.

New features include a larger concourse area with better and more fully accessible passenger facilities, new waiting shelters, toilets, digital information boards, shops and CCTV cameras.

Refurbished canopies and new contemporary fittings will blend in with existing architecture will also feature, along with a side entrance from the taxi rank, additional bicycle racks, renovated toilets and a centralised customer information desk.

A glazed wall is being installed between the station's concourse and platform areas to allow more natural light into the building.

The scheme, which is part of the Department for Transport's National Station Improvement Programme, is jointly led by Arriva Trains Wales, Network Rail and the Welsh Assembly Government. It also has firm support from Swansea Council.

The improvement work at Swansea railway station will be carried out in two key phases. Passengers will benefit from an improved concourse area by 2011 before further work on the platform area begins in the second phase.

Contracts to carry out the railway station revamp are currently being tendered for and work on site is expected to start towards the end of the spring.

Chris Rayner, Route Director for Network Rail, said: "Over the next five years, stations are among Network Rail's top priorities and, together with our partners, we will be ploughing around £85 million into improving stations in Wales by 2014."

Further information:
City and County of Swansea