Improvement works have started at Chiltern Railways’ third busiest station, High Wycombe, as part of a £4 million Network Rail project which will see the lengthening of the northbound platforms and the construction of a footbridge.

Network Rail and Chiltern Railways are undertaking the project to provide long term additional capacity at the station to provide for an extra 1,000 peak passengers into London by April 2019.

John Salmon, area manager for Network Rail, said: “Work to extend platforms is incredibly important as the number of passengers travelling on this route continues to rise. Working in partnership with Chiltern Railways we are investing in the future of the railway, enabling longer trains to call at the stations and provide more seats for passengers. There will be some short term disruption while the work is completed but the long term benefits will far outweigh this.”

PaSCoE have been appointed as temporary works designers and Contractors Responsible Engineer (CRE) by AMCO Rail and have, to date, designed Road Rail Access Points (RRAP), Platforms hoardings, platform stability assessments, and vehicle restraint systems (VRS).

Prior to the installation of the permanent footbridge a temporary footbridge is required to enable passengers to move between platforms 2 and 3.

PaSCoE were commissioned to undertake an assessment of the proposed 350Te crane to lift the single span Mitchel temporary footbridge including provision of Network Rail Forms 002 and 003 for the works. The lift was undertaken successfully over a weekend night possession.