Work is to begin on a railway station redevelopment project in Berkshire.

Engineers will start extending three platforms as well as installing a new bridge at Ascot station from Tuesday, 06 September.

The scheme is part of the £800 million Waterloo and South West Upgrade programme, a major investment in the railway running into London Waterloo.

The project at Acton will provide space for 30% more passengers during the busiest times of the day.

The new footbridge is scheduled to be completed by February 2017, while the platform extensions will be developed by the end of March 2017.

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Tatiana Kotrikova, project manager for Network Rail said: "Since 1996 the number of passenger journeys on routes into and out of London Waterloo has increased from 108 million to over 230 million making it one of the most intensively used sections of the railway network in Britain, so we're really excited to be delivering a better railway, a better station and better journeys for passengers on this route.

"We're replacing the current footbridge by February 2017 and extending the platforms at Ascot by March 2017 to provide full step-free access and accommodate longer trains as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan."

Jenny Saunders, head of stations for South West Trains, added: "These improvements will make a real difference for the 1.2 million passenger journeys through Ascot station each year."

(LM/CD)