Improvement works around Romford Station start next month

Havering residents will soon benefit from brand new trains and direct access to central London and Heathrow airport thanks to Crossrail.

As part of the multi-billion pound project a £28.5m fund was set up by Transport for London (TfL) and councils were invited to bid for that money to improve public areas around Crossrail route stations.

Havering Council successfully bid for money and is now investing £4.1million that will be spent on works around Romford, Gidea Park and Harold Wood stations – the three Crossrail stations in the borough.

Civil engineering consultants Jacobs have worked up plans for Crossrail “Complementary Measures” around the three stations and the green light has been given for work to begin outside Romford Station on Monday 10 October.

The works are designed to improve the environment around the station and to make interchange with buses and pedestrian access to the station easier. They will complement work in the station itself that will result in a re-designed ticket hall appropriate for increased passenger numbers, step-free access to all pavements, an additional pedestrian entrance on the north side of the station, and extended platforms that will be required for the new 12 carriage Elizabeth Line trains that will service the station from 2019.

The Council’s contractor Marlborough will start the work on the eastern side of South Street along the stretch of pavement between the junctions with Eastern Road and Victoria Road. The plan is to improve the pavement surface to complement works that have already taken place in recent years in Victoria Road and the stretch of South Street between Eastern Road and Western Road. The works will include providing step free access to buses stopping outside the Haart estate agency offices. Other improvement works will deliver better lighting, signage, tree planting, bins and seating, the creation of a larger pedestrian plaza to accommodate the increasing number of people using Romford station and better pedestrian crossings in South Street and Eastern Road.

The work on the footways and roads outside Romford Station will be split into two phases with a suspension of the works between 25 November and early January 2017 to minimise any disruption to Christmas shoppers and travellers. Any temporary road restrictions will be lifted at weekends and taxis will still be available from the rank in Eastern Road.

Councillor Jason Frost, Deputy Cabinet Member for Environment at Havering Council said: “These works will make travelling to and from Romford station a much more pleasant experience. This investment coupled with the dramatic improvements to the train services including new rolling stock next year and longer trains from the end of 2018, will help our borough’s businesses thrive and residents enjoy speedy direct access to central London and Heathrow airport.”