Barking station upgrade’s first stage to finish this month

Work to renovate the listed barking station is set to see the initial phase complete this month.

The 1950s booking hall is a spacious example of post-war modernity based on Rome’s termini station, though has grown ever more decrepit over the years.

Work will see the concourse made bigger when reopened with an eventual aim to double capacity, with the station served by three tube lines, c2c rail and London Overground.

That includes the recently extended line to Barking Riverside. Any extension beyond to Thamesmead appears about as dead as it could be.

Thamesmead folk will thus not gain a link to tube line and trains from Barking serving numerous destinations.

The platforms are also somewhat of a time capsule – sometimes for the best with Network South East signage.

And sometimes not , with platform roofs very tired.

The station currently has a way to avoid paying and work will see a bigger gateline covering all platforms.

Quite the contrast to Southeastern Metro where stations in fast growing areas such as Kidbrooke had barriers removed late on in the building process as the DfT and Southeastern didn’t want to pay associated staffing costs.

C2c passengers also benefit from being on the TfL fare scale, while south of the Thames Southeastern Metro is on the National Rail fare scale which is more expensive for single journeys, and also has a surcharge if switching to the tube which c2c passengers do not pay.

Three retail units will be located to the front of the station upon completion, which is pencilled in for September.

In terms of housing, Barking has seen a number of towers in recent years and a 28-floor block is planned directly next door.

Funding for Barking station upgrade is from the Department for Transport. Perhaps the allocation came before they started taking an axe to Southeastern services and refusing to fund staffed stations on the Metro network.

Recent cuts and service alterations on the Metro routes made by the Department for Transport are all the save a miserly £10 million.

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