A new £25 million balcony that features ten new retail outlets has opened at Waterloo Station's main concourse in time for the Olympic Games.

The new balcony is designed to reduce congestion on the concourse for 300,000 daily passengers and improve access to and from Waterloo East.

BAM in the London region has completed the new 220 metre balcony - the longest at any British rail on time for the Olympic Games, when it estimated the station will have more than 1,000,000 extra visitors.

The rejuvenation of Waterloo Station is part of Network Rail's on-going programme of investment in key stations across the country to provide more space, reduce congestion and improve the facilities for passengers..

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This has been achieved by installing escalators and repositioning retail outlets previously located in the middle of the main concourse onto the balcony. With new escalators and lifts, installed earlier in May, Waterloo station now has step-free access to Waterloo East.

The new balcony will provide passengers with a wider choice of places to eat and shop with an extra 20,000 sq. ft. of retail space.

David Biggs, director of property at Network Rail, commented: "We are dedicated to improving the facilities, layout and retail experiences for millions of commuters nationwide through various station expansion projects within Britain’s major cities. The Waterloo balcony project forms part of our wider retail strategy to create ‘destination’ stations for both rail passengers and non-travelling customers. It also provides a crucial, sustainable source of income for the station, which can be reinvested directly into the rail network to continuously improve our services to passengers."

(CD)