Blackburn Railway Station

Amco Rail has completed the transformation of Platform 4 at Blackburn Railway Station as part of Network Rail's Access For All (AFA) and National Stations Improvement Programme (NSIP). 

Client:Network Rail
Value:£750K
Location:Lancashire

The existing platform was windswept, uninviting and inaccessible to disabled railway users with little to provide shelter from the weather. AMCO were engaged by Network Rail to provide a new elevator between the platform and the pedestrian subway below and a new canopy roof, supported on structural steelwork.

Numerous additional works, including the provision of a heated waiting shelter with automatic doors and the complete resurfacing of the platform in concrete paving were also incorporated into the project, all of which had to be completed before the milestone completion date of 21 October 2011. 

Other activites also carried out included the updating of CCTV, Customer Information Systems, lighting, windbreak fencing and the alteration of a stainless steel artwork mural, depicting important people with links to the town.

Challenges which had to be overcome to successfully complete this project by the deadline included a complete re-design of the structural steelwork piling arrangement and lift shaft design due to the discovery of unforeseen buried station buildings dating back to the 1970s and the redesign of the platform roof configuration to match the installations on the other platforms and improve ambient lighting.

The scheme was funded by Network Rail, Northern Rail and also partly by Blackburn with Darwen Council.