Artist’s view of how Acton Main Line might look
TRANSPORT
Platform for change
More than £7million will be spent on improving the areas surrounding five local
train stations, thanks to Crossrail cash awarded to the borough.
T
he Crossrail route will run
more than 62 miles from
Reading in the west, through
new tunnels below London,
to Abbey Wood in the east. Along the
way, it will take in Acton Main Line,
Ealing Broadway, Hanwell, Southall and
West Ealing stations.
These will each benefit from better
buildings, new ticket halls and other
improvements and, as we reported in the
autumn 2014 edition of this magazine,
designs are already being worked on.
However, there is more to come
because Crossrail and Ealing Council
have been working on masterplans
that set out how the areas immediately
around these five stations can be
improved as well.
To this end, the council successfully
bid for £7.3million from Transport
for London (TfL) to carry out these
‘doorstep’ improvements. This means
28
around ealing
Spring 2015
Ealing has snared one quarter of
the share of the total money made
available by TfL for these kinds of
projects across the capital.
Nick O’Donnell, the council’s
assistant director of strategic transport,
said: “I think most people see the
obvious benefit of Crossrail making
the borough better connected and will
have heard about the improvements
to the stations. The additional benefit
of boosting the areas directly outside
the stations is perhaps less well known,
West Ealing
though it is also incredibly valuable.
Securing such a large share of funding
to carry out the work is great news
“The idea is to primarily improve
the look and function of the areas
immediately outside the stations,
provide higher quality interchange
between the station and different forms
of transport like buses and bicycles,
install better facilities like cycle parking
and seating, enhance accessibility to
the stations and help better define and
‘landmark’ the station entrances.
“At this stage, the improvements are
only first stage ideas and a series of
options and further design work and
consultation will take place from April
through to November.
“The exact split of the £7.3million
funding between the stations will be
determined according to what comes
out of the next stages of design
and consultation.”