Fury as £8m over budget bridge still not open at UK train station

There is fury as a ticket office is built nowhere near a UK train station – as the £8 million over budget bridge is still not open.

A new footbridge at Theale Station in Reading has already taken 10 times longer to build than the Empire State Building and is over 10 years overdue.

The upgrade on the pedestrian walkway on the line from London to Bristol was initially announced back in January 2013 but Network Rail only began work in January 2023.

Residents are furious about the ongoing lack of bridge, especially after Network Rail said in January of this year that it would be opening in the spring.

A local named Steve told the Express: “Guess what? It’s still not open. There was a big banner that said ‘Opening in Spring’. But it didn’t. And it didn’t open in the summer. Or the Autumn.

“A minor inconvenience for able bodied commuters. But not to have station access for all in 2024 is pretty scandalous. 

“However, they have opened the new ticket office, next to the unopened bridge. But because it’s now 200m away from platform access, the guy who works in there only sells 10 tickets a day when he was selling 150. Brilliant. 

“He gets very little info on what’s happening. No one does.”

Funding to design the footbridge was announced in 2013 while funding for the full project was to start in in 2015. This was deferred until 2021, when the programme was resumed and fully funded by the Department for Transport.

The original budget was set at £1.25million. However, this shot up to £9.5million when a new ticket office was built in 2014.

According to Network Rail, the average accessible footbridge costs between £3 million and £5 million, but the rail operator says Theale station is a very busy station.

This means opportunities to do work are limited. The extra width of the three tracks also requires a longer span across the railway, resulting in more difficult construction.

Reading West and Mid Berkshire MP Olivia Bailey said: “I share the frustration felt by users at the ongoing delays to complete the work on the footbridge and lifts at Theale Station.

“What’s more, it is really disappointing that communication from [Network] Rail and Great Western [Railway] about the delays has been very poor. I have asked them to provide an update for station users as a matter of urgency.”

If the bridge opens next year, it will have taken 12 years for the station to finally get its new footbridge – about the length of time it took to build Big Ben.

Daily Express has contacted Network Rail for comment.