Network Rail has completed an extension of platform 2 at Tooting station in south London, as part of the £6bn Thameslink Programme.
The extended platform will see new Class 700 trains running between Wimbledon and Sutton. When introduced later this year, the eight-carriage trains will be able to accommodate up to 1,146 passengers.
In a statement, Network Rail said the latest passenger information systems will provide live service updates.
Thameslink's passenger service director Stuart Cheshire said: “Our new Thameslink trains are going to make a huge difference to passengers on the Wimbledon and Sutton loop when they enter service.
“They are designed to carry many more people, in air conditioned comfort and will be streets ahead of the near 30-year-old trains we operate today. This platform extension at Tooting and the others to follow will enable these trains to make a real difference for commuters.”
The platform has been extended as part of enabling work at four Sutton loop stations including Tooting, Sutton Common, Hackbridge, and Mitcham Junction.
Work on the Sutton Common station will be completed this month, with plans to begin work at Hackbridge and Mitcham on 21 August this year as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan.
UK construction company Osborne has been appointed as contractor to carry out work at these stations.
Thameslink programme director Simon Blanchflower said: “The improvements made to these stations will have a direct, positive impact on passengers’ journeys. The new trains will help to keep London moving and provide more spacious, more reliable journeys into the engine room of the economy.”
Upon completion in 2018, the government-sponsored Thameslink Programme will provide longer and more spacious trains running every two to three minutes through central London.
Image: Longer platforms will allow new class 700 trains on Sutton Thameslink route. Photo: © Network Rail.
