Member Article

Lea Bridge Station set to re-open next year following £12m regeneration

Lea Bridge Station is re-opening to passengers in Spring 2016, after 30 years of closure, marking the culmination of a 15 year vision for Waltham Forest Council.

Works to re-open the station have now started on site and when the scheme finishes next Spring, passengers will have direct links to both Stratford and Tottenham Hale and journey times of five minutes apiece.

Stratford is the nearest high-speed station to central London, connecting to services going to Europe, and Tottenham Hale provides easy and fast connections to Stansted Airport, meaning the new station will open the western part of Waltham Forest up to commercial opportunities in London and Europe.

The scheme is funded with a mixture of £5m in Council capital funding, £1.1m from the Department for Transport’s New Stations Fund and £5.5m from Section 106 contributions (managed by the Stratford Transport Implementation Group), and marks an important milestone for Waltham Forest.

Chris Robbins, Leader of the Council said: “Lea Bridge Station will really help open Leyton up for growth, giving the area better and faster links to some of London’s crucial transport hubs, and making it a more attractive prospect for developers, businesses and residents,

“For years it’s been a project we have committed to making happen, and going forward it will form the centrepiece of wider plans to rejuvenate the area and create a new Leyton village, spurring even more regeneration and change.”

“Developers are already seeing the potential Leyton has to offer, helping to establish our little corner of London as a real contender as a place to do business, as well as somewhere to buy a home and raise a young family.”

The new station, according to TfL estimates, will service 352,000 passengers a year by 2031 and the building will house two new platforms, a new footbridge and lifts, station canopy, ticket vending machines, Oyster readers, waiting shelters, help points and cycle storage for anyone getting there by bike.

Abellio Greater Anglia, who operate a number of train services across London and the South-East, will be running the station’s train services when it re-opens.

Work on site will take a year to complete, with the station scheduled to run its first services in Spring 2016.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .