During the Games, thousands of spectators will use Stratford Regional Station every day to get to the sporting action at the Olympic Park. As part of the Stratford team, I am pleased to report that our work to boost capacity and accessibility at the station for the Games and beyond is progressing well.

Over Christmas, we demolished buildings on platforms 10a and 11 to get ready for the construction of new structures, such as stairs and lifts, which will lead to a disused subway that we are going to re-open.

Before demolition of the old station entrance and canopy:

After demolition:



Behind the main ticket hall, we have started preparatory works for the construction of a new Central Line platform. This new platform will allow westbound trains to open doors on both sides, providing a more direct interchange between the Central Line and train services in the main ticket hall, such as the Jubilee Line. 

Temporary works in place for the new Central Line platform:



We have started foundation work for this platform by setting supporting piles into the ground. Each pile, measuring 300mm in diameter, is bored 10m into the ground, using a mini piling rig. So far, we have completed 50 out of a total of 100 piles.

The piling rig in action:



We have also started to remove canopies and other structures from platforms three and five and platforms six and eight to prepare for new stairs and lifts into the subways. As regular station users have probably noticed, some parts of these platforms have been hoarded off to allow this work to progress safely while the station remains operational.
 
We also plan to start construction on a brand new station entrance on the south-east side above the current taxi rank in the summer. Minimising disruption to passengers will continue to be one of our top priorities as our work to prepare Stratford Regional Station for the 2012 Games and beyond moves forward.