Piling complete for Wandsworth Town lifts as island platform reopens to trains

Network Rail has completed piling for the new lift shafts at Wandsworth Town station in south London, ending five months of service alterations and allowing trains to call at the island platform again.

The infrastructure owner said on 2 November that the piling, which provides structural support for the lifts serving platforms 2 and 3, was one of the most challenging stages of the step-free access project.

The original plan would have closed the island platforms for up to 12 weeks, stopping trains heading out of London from calling there. Instead, Network Rail said, track and train teams re-platformed services during critical stages of the work, cutting the need for platform closures.

Network Rail said that approach avoided an estimated £1.2m in lost revenue.

Oliver Rogers, South Western's Strategy & Business Development Director, said: "It's brilliant that we've successfully completed one of the most difficult parts of this project, whilst managing to keep trains running for our passengers."

The scheme

Network Rail put the value of the project at £19.8m, funded through the Department for Transport's (DfT) Access for All programme alongside investment from Wandsworth Council. The council has described it as a £20m upgrade programme delivered by Network Rail and funded by the council and the DfT scheme.

The work will provide lifts to all platforms and a second entrance on Odyssey Way, which Network Rail said will give access from the north of the station and include new ticket barriers. New lighting and security cameras will be installed in and around the lifts.

Wandsworth Council said more than 3.75 million passengers used the station between April 2024 and March 2025.

Councillor Nick Austin, Wandsworth Council's Cabinet Member for Transport, said: "These improvements are part of wider investment in local infrastructure, providing better transport options for our growing town centres."

Programme history

Network Rail announced in December 2025 that work to make the station fully accessible would start in February 2026, in partnership with the council, with completion scheduled for summer 2027. The council's February 2026 programme had the lift shafts scheduled for installation in February 2027; the November release says preparation for lift shaft construction now begins in December.

Service changes ran through the summer. Network Rail's Wessex Access for All page shows that from 11 May to 26 July 2026 trains towards Putney did not call at Wandsworth Town during midday hours, and from 27 July to 11 October trains towards Clapham Junction did not call during midday hours on Mondays. The stairs to Platform 4 are closed from April 2026 until summer 2027 while the second entrance is built.

In July 2026 the council said construction of the lifts and second entrance was on schedule, and that the entrance would open together with the new lift access in summer 2027.

Wessex accessibility programme

Network Rail said Wandsworth Town will become the latest station on the South Western Railway network to be fully step free with lifts to all platforms, and that it is one of many accessibility schemes under development on the South Western network.

Earlier Wessex route step-free schemes include Teddington, where £5.4m of lifts were formally opened on 23 May 2025, and Barnes, where an accessible footbridge opened on 7 February 2025.

South Western says it runs 1,600 services a day across 200 stations and 1,300 miles of track, with 7,500 colleagues working across track and train.

What happens next

Network Rail said the focus now turns to preparing for construction of the new lift shafts in December, after which the project moves to building the second entrance on Odyssey Way. Step-free access at Wandsworth Town is expected in summer 2027.