As part of the Railway Upgrade Plan, Stevenage station is having work done to extend the platforms. This Railway Upgrade Plan is a thorough project lasting five years in order to create and improve a faster and more reliable rail network. Currently it is the turn of Stevenage to be adapted as part of the regeneration project. Britain’s Rail network is the safest and most reliable networks in Europe. Work to improve the network will only improve this standing as well as improve the service for its passengers.

Four of the Platforms at Stevenage are being extended in order to accommodate Virgin’s new Azuma trains. These new trains will have better acceleration and a larger capacity. The new features for Virgin’s Azuma trains could lead to the reduction of journey times and are meant to be introduced to the East Coast Main Line in 2018.

Work will begin of the Stevenage Station on the 20^th March and is expected to be finished by Thursday 15^th June. The works are expected to cost more than £800,000. Apparently over the course of the platforms being extended, there are set to be no disruptions to the passenger service from Stevenage.

There have also been projects to extend platforms at Durham and Northallerton stations in the North East of the country. The work at Stevenage will allow Virgin’s new trains to fit inside the station at Platforms 1-4, where the work is taking place. The project should offer a lot of benefits for passengers of the East Coast Main Line. Virgin’s new trains are expected to deliver a faster and more comfortable experience for their passengers when the new Azuma trains are introduced next year.

Network Rail engineers have been on the site since 13^th March, and even though they finish the work on Thursday 15^th June, the Network Rail team will be finishing up and demobilising from the site until Friday 23^rd June.