Rail campaigners win station reopening at Lea Bridge, East London
A five-year campaign by national pressure group Railfuture has succeeded in getting Lea Bridge station in Waltham Forest reopened, 31 years after it was closed. It will officially be opened on Monday 16 May by Claire Perry, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport.
Railfuture Director and former Hackney transport officer, Roger Blake, said: "We're all delighted that despite some early scepticism, we managed to make a very clear case for this station to be reopened, and fired everyone's imaginations about what could be possible. In just five short years the idea of a reopened station here has come from zero to hero, and the improved access will now go on to transform local people's and businesses' future prospects."
“The initial spark was in 2011 when transport officers in neighbouring Hackney Council, working on London 2012 and its legacy, found that there was £5million funding available from the developers of Stratford City's Westfield who were keen to expand their rail catchment northwards up the Lea Valley.”
Railfuture provided a grant which allowed the local Chingford Line Users' Association, based in Waltham Forest, to hire Jonathan Roberts Consulting to make the case for the station. His report also made the case for a third track on the Lea Valley line which would enable the train service frequency at the station to double to quarter-hourly each way.
“Waltham Forest Council enthusiastically supported the campaign, successfully applying to the Department for Transport's 'New stations' fund and committing some of their own limited resources too.”
The reopened station is in an area of limited public transport access, yet will now be just 5 minutes by train from two Tube stations giving direct links straight to the heart of the capital's West End - Stratford and Tottenham Hale.
The third track is due to be completed by Network Rail in time for the doubled train frequency planned for December 2018.
Notes to editors
See http://www.railfuture.org.uk/CLUA-Introduction for campaign background and http://www.railfuture.org.uk/CLUA-JRC+Report for the JRC report 'Lea Valley Rail'
Railfuture is the UK's leading independent organisation campaigning for better rail services for both passengers and freight.
Railfuture's website can be found at: http://www.railfuture.org.uk
For further information or comment please contact:
Roger Blake, Railfuture Director
Tel: 020 7254 1580 Mobile: 07538 492501
roger.blake at railfuture.org.uk
Bruce Williamson, national spokesman
Tel: 0117 927 2954 Mobile: 07759 557389
media at railfuture.org.uk