A major improvement scheme at Stafford station is underway

Work has started on a £3m scheme to resurface platforms and renew roof coverings at Stafford’s railway station.

Stafford is a typical early 1960s concrete station but time has taken its toll. Platform surfaces have become uneven as a result of water getting into joints between paving slabs and the de-icing chemicals used in winter months.

The roof covering has failed in several areas and there are broken roof lights and glazing panels on the footbridge, all of which have allowed water to get into the fabric of the building.

Network Rail are:

• repairing or rebuilding the platform support walls at track level where necessary
• installing new surface water drains to replace the existing drainage channel that runs along the middle of the platforms
• renewing the opaque glazing on the footbridge that links the platforms and passenger lifts
• repairing and repainting the timber cladding
• installing new canopy roof coverings over all platforms to make them watertight, and renewing gutters, down pipes and glazed roof panels
• resurfacing the platforms with block paving (platforms 1 and 3 have already been recently resurfaced) including new coping stones along the platform edge with a tactile strip to help visually impaired passengers
• installing a new roof access walkway system to make future maintenance work much easier

Sections of the platforms have already been fenced off and we’ll be erecting scaffolding on the platforms over several weekends from the end of October 2012.

The work will take nine months to complete, and the station will remain open throughout.