Waterloo’s new retail and leisure balcony opens in time for Olympic Games

The new balcony, opened on 17 July, is designed to reduce congestion on the concourse for 300,000 daily passengers and improve access to and from Waterloo East.

BAM in the London region has completed the new 220 metre balcony - the longest at any British rail on time for the Olympic Games, when it estimated the station will have more than 1,000,000 extra visitors.

The rejuvenation of Waterloo Station is part of Network Rail’s on-going programme of investment in key stations across the country to provide more space, reduce congestion and improve the facilities for passengers.

This has been achieved by installing escalators and repositioning retail outlets previously located in the middle of the main concourse onto the balcony. With new escalators and lifts, installed earlier in May, Waterloo station now has step-free access to Waterloo East.

The new balcony will provide passengers with a wider choice of places to eat and shop with an extra 20,000 sq. ft. of retail space.

David Biggs, director of property at Network Rail, comments: 'We are dedicated to improving the facilities, layout and retail experiences for millions of commuters nationwide through various station expansion projects within Britain’s major cities. The Waterloo balcony project forms part of our wider retail strategy to create ‘destination’ stations for both rail passengers and non-travelling customers. It also provides a crucial, sustainable source of income for the station, which can be reinvested directly into the rail network to continuously improve our services to passengers.'

Tim Shoveller, Managing Director of the Network Rail/South West Trains alliance, said: 'Waterloo, as many of our customers know, is a very busy station. We have over 90m passengers passing through every year and there is 30% growth predicted by 2030. Our challenge is to deliver extra capacity so our passengers can get the rail services they rely on.

We needed to find a radical solution to improve the space and facilities at Waterloo. The opening of the balcony, with the removal of retail units from the concourse, crucially reduces congestion while still providing the facilities expected at a modern station. Passengers will now find it easier to get to and from their trains.'

Waterloo station is one of the UK's major transport hubs connecting London to popular destinations such as Bournemouth, Poole, Southampton, Portsmouth, Reading and Windsor.