NETWORK Rail completed another £4.5m slice of the £800m Waterloo and South West upgrade on time at the start of this month, which will boost station capacity by 30 per cent in December 2018.

In total, the equivalent of more than 15,000 hours went into delivering the upgrades which included replacing sets of points and improving the signalling at Queenstown Road; complex signalling and power modifications at Waterloo to enable work throughout 2017; continuing demolition work in the former International Terminal at Waterloo, as part of the plans to re-open the five former Eurostar train platforms.

Network Rail’s orange army also created openings on platforms 1-2 and 3-4. The 15m-long holes will eventually become extra staircases that will improve passenger flow through the station by providing additional access to London Underground services, once the platforms are extended.

Network Rail route managing director Becky Lumlock said: “Christmas provides us with a great chance to deliver vital aspects of our railway upgrade plan while causing the least amount of disruption to passengers. Our work will now continue in the international terminal.”

Platforms 1-4 will be lengthened to accommodate longer trains over three weeks in August and South West Trains will start to introduce a fleet of 30 new trains, providing 150 extra carriages, in April.