Reading Green Park railway station cost increases by £3m
- Published
The new station will be near the Madejski Stadium
The cost of a new railway station planned for Reading has risen by almost 50%.
Berkshire Local Transport Body (BLTB) awarded an additional £3m to the initial £6.4m contract for Green Park Station on Thursday.
The station will be built on the Reading to Basingstoke line near Madejski Stadium to improve transport networks across Berkshire.
Reading Borough Council said the funds would help "cater for more passengers".
Funds would go towards the provision of additional waiting shelters and ticketing facilities for passengers.
A four-storey car park will provide spaces for 200 cars
Tony Page, planning and transport councillor at the authority, said: "We need to future-proof for a much greater use by passengers than originally anticipated due to the growth in housing, leisure and conference facilities...over the next few years."
An assessment of forecast passenger demand for the station was undertaken in 2013 by Great Western Railway and Network Rail.
However, BLTP said recent reviews suggested "a significant increase in the forecast passenger demand for the station in comparison to the calculations undertaken in 2013".
Construction work on the station is set to begin in winter 2017.
It is part of a £21.4m batch of schemes agreed by the Berkshire Local Transport Body and funded by the government.
Other schemes include road improvements in Newbury, Slough and Bracknell.