Battle for Waterloo - Commonsense Victory!

Tremendous news if you use trains to Waterloo! Within two years, we will see the first stage of serious investment to cut train congestion outside Waterloo, relieve overcrowding and improve rail services.

Faced with the certain loss of Eurostar to St Pancras this November, my Liberal Democrat colleague Susan Kramer and I have been fighting for 2 years to ensure the vacated international platforms can be converted for use by local trains, in what has been dubbed “the Battle for Waterloo”.

When we set out, our 2 aims were to keep the platforms for trains, and then get the investment to exploit this historic opportunity. We secured an early victory back in October 2005, when Ministers rejected barmy ideas to sell off the 5 international platforms for use as shops and offices.

Since then, Susan and I have argued for a two stage approach: early investment for the platforms to be accessed by existing trains, and then some longer term investment for a total redesign of Waterloo.

Last week in a debate Susan secured, the Minister announced a short-term conversion of the international platforms for domestic use, to be ready by December 2008. This will enable trains from the Windsor lines to access the platforms, and allow other trains to “shuffle” across, reducing peak time congestion outside Waterloo.

Simultaneously, a study will look at major investment to allow longer mainline suburban trains – though this couldn’t kick in till the middle of the next decade.

If this all comes to pass, it will be a huge victory for commonsense, for public transport and, ultimately, for our environment.