Green Park Station to open by the end of this year

SIGNIFICANT progress has been made towards the opening of Reading Green Park Station, with the physical construction of the station nearing completion and the commissioning process due to start in July.

Reading Borough Council, in partnership with Network Rail and Great Western Railway (GWR), has delivered Reading’s first new station since 1906, including:

• 2 x 150m platforms;
• A new fully accessible station building;
• A new overbridge, providing fully accessible access to both platforms, via stairs and lifts;
• A bus interchange and cycle parking facilities;
• 2 car parks, including 12 blue badge spaces and drop-off parking.

Green Park Station will sit on the Reading to Basingstoke line and will be served by a half-hourly service north to Reading and south to Basingstoke through the day. It consists of two platforms with disabled access and a multi-modal interchange with a surface-level car park, bus stops, taxi rank and cycle parking.

With the building work, which Reading Council is leading on, nearing completion, there is a detailed commissioning and safety validation process to be carried out before the station can welcome its first trains and serve passengers. The new station is expected to be open by the end of the year.

When open, the new station will help to alleviate queues on the busy A33 by offering an alternative sustainable mode of travel. It will significantly improve accessibility to the south Reading area where large-scale development is taking place, including the expansion of Green Park Business Park and Green Park Village.

Tony Page, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Councillor for Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport, said: “I’m delighted the construction of the new Green Park Station will be complete in July. We have faced challenges on the schedule from material shortages, but the completion of the building work is a significant step forward.

“When operational, Green Park Station will form an integral part of Reading’s ever-growing sustainable transport infrastructure with more homes, businesses and leisure developments planned in the south of the borough. It will also be another option for football fans heading to the Stadium on match days, again taking the pressure off our busy roads.”

GWR Business Development Director, Tom Pierpoint, said: “It’s exciting to see Reading Green Park Station taking shape. We are working closely with the Council and Network Rail to deliver half-hourly services, better connecting the communities we serve.

“Reading is a key destination on our network and this new station will help to secure the economic prosperity of the region as we seek to build back better from the pandemic.”

Joanna Grew, Network Rail industry programme director – Heathrow & Thames Valley, said: “It is really pleasing to see the progress being made at the new Green Park Station which, once in service, will play an important role in connecting communities between Reading and Basingstoke through regular and reliable sustainable transport while reducing the level of traffic on the A33.

“The safety of passengers and our staff is our number one priority and following the completion of the construction, we will be working closely with GWR to complete a detailed safety evaluation to ensure the station is safe and ready to welcome its first trains and passengers by the end of the year.”

Find out more about the project here: www.reading.gov.uk/GreenParkStation 

The Green Park Station scheme was granted approval by the Berkshire Local Transport body in November 2014 with £9.15 million funded through Thames Valley Berkshire LEP’s Local Growth Fund.

A further £5.6 million has come from s106 developer contributions. In July 2017 the Department for Transport announced a further £2.3 million of funding to ensure the station keeps pace with demand expected from proposed major new developments in the area. In November 2019 the Council secured an additional £2.477 million from the Government’s New Stations Fund, and £550 thousand from Thames Valley Berkshire LEP’s (Local Enterprise Partnership) Local Growth Fund, for Green Park Station bringing the overall budget for Green Park to £20.077 million. The project received additional funding of £1.25 million from GWR and £2.015 million from Network Rail in March 2022.