A new staircase for Surbiton station

Sir Edward Davey, M.P

Surbiton’s station is an iconic building.

Designed by Scottish architect James Robb Scott and opened in 1937, it’s an Art Deco masterpiece, well-deserving of its Grade II-listed status. From its clock tower to its spacious booking hall, it draws you in as you rush for your train.

So nearly a decade ago, when I started to campaign for a new staircase to ease what I considered dangerous levels of passenger congestion in the evening peak on platforms 3 and 4, I was a little nervous. Was it wise to tinker with the beauty of Surbiton station?

People can judge for themselves whether they think the now completed staircase, with “podium deck structure” for the ticket gates, succeeds in blending in to Scott’s original. For me, I’d like to thank everyone at Network Rail and their contractors, because in my view they have married the necessity for this staircase with the station’s original splendour. A huge project, well executed.

The benefits of this project may not be apparent to everyone – but if you’re a commuter regularly travelling back in the evening peak, I’m sure you’ll get it: when 2 trains arrive within a few minutes of each other, the sheer number of commuters disembarking onto platforms 3 and 4 at the same time has long threatened an accident.

And beyond those unsafe levels of passenger congestion, the long queues of people waiting to exit the station, coupled with the linked delays to the trains then leaving the platforms for their onward journey, all helped us make the case to the Department for Transport and Network Rail.

While getting this project over the line has been beyond frustrating at times – I won’t recount the full list of meetings and emails and the different obstacles faced – I think everyone involved can be proud – including the many residents, councillors and of course railway staff.

Next steps

But inevitably there’s the odd issue to iron out, and the campaign for the next improvements!

First, a few minor works related to special security glazing on the staircase and podium need to be finished. The latest date for final completion is next month.

Second, where the trains stop in the station – at least in the evening peak – needs to change, to make it easier for people to use the new staircase.

Partly because the works haven’t yet finished, the evening peak trains are still stopping far down the platform – when, now, the middle carriage really needs to stop midway between the two staircase exits. But don’t worry – this issue has already been raised!

Then there are the next set of improvements –starting with disabled access at the rear of the station! While we won the funding for this back in Winter 2020, the much larger works on the staircase took precedence.

However, the designs for how passengers will be able to access the lift at the rear of Surbiton station have apparently been drawn up – and I hope we will all get to see them soon. With the station’s rear ticket office and booking hall very much an important part of James Robb Scott’s masterpiece – with work also being undertaken to locate past murals that graced the walls – how this vital, practical improvement is made will also be rightly scrutinised by our community.

And beyond disabled access at the rear, I hope we can look forward to our newly-improved Surbiton station also receiving a good clean and re-painting.

And then there’s how the rear ticket office and booking hall might be brought back into community use in the future. And so on…..

If you have any ideas for how Surbiton station could be improved in the future – indeed, if you have any ideas for improving any of our Borough’s ten train stations – please do send them to me at edward. davey.mp@parliament.uk

Improving public transport locally - making it safer, greener, more reliable, more accessible and more affordable - is a never ending but vital campaign.

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