Salford Crescent station set for redesign

Author: Ashley Curtis - 16 October 2012

One of Britain's most crowded rail stations is set for a £12 million revamp in order to ease the threat of passengers falling on the tracks, reports menmedia.co.uk.

Salford Crescent station, which serves the city's university, is an incredibly busy station but represents a hazard for many passengers due to its narrow platforms. Transport bosses claimed years ago that a passenger could be accidentally pushed on to the tracks because of the daily commuter crush.

As a result, Network Rail has given the green light to a station design by extending the platforms and moving the ticket office, giving commuters room to breathe. The ticket office will now be moved from the platforms to the road level above and a new staircase will be built with a lift for disabled passengers.

Jo Kaye, spokeswoman for Network Rail, commented on the revamp: "In the peak periods the station becomes very congested, with large numbers of passengers waiting for trains mixing with those changing trains or leaving the station.

"This work will effectively de-clutter the station and give passengers more room to move around," she added, cited by bbc.co.uk.

Network Rail claims the station will remain open during the work - contrary to previous plans - and the project has a completion date of early 2014.