IN Brief:
- Piling for new lift shafts serving platforms 2 and 3 at Wandsworth Town has been completed.
- The £19.8m accessibility scheme includes lifts across the station and a second Odyssey Way entrance.
- Lift-shaft work is next, with step-free station access targeted for summer 2027.
Network Rail and South Western have completed the piling phase for new lifts at Wandsworth Town station, clearing a major construction milestone within the £19.8m step-free access scheme. The foundations will support the lift shafts serving the station’s island platforms, while further work will provide lifts to all platforms and a second entrance on Odyssey Way. Step-free access is scheduled for summer 2027, with the next stage focused on constructing the shafts above the completed foundations.
Piling at an operational railway station has to accommodate constrained working space alongside running tracks, existing structures, and active passenger routes. At Wandsworth Town, the foundation package was especially demanding around platforms 2 and 3. The piles provide structural support for the vertical lift enclosures that will connect platform level with the station circulation routes. Completing this below-ground work removes a critical dependency before the principal lift-shaft structures can be built.
The construction phase coincided with five months of altered train stopping arrangements. Teams changed the platforms from which certain services departed while work was undertaken, protecting the worksite and maintaining train operations where possible. The original plan envisaged the island platforms being closed for up to 12 weeks, preventing some trains travelling out of London from calling there. Instead, railway and train-operating teams coordinated platform allocations around the piling programme, substantially reducing the anticipated operational impact.
South Western estimates that the changed service arrangements avoided £1.2m in lost revenue during the piling phase. This figure concerns the operational approach, separate from the £19.8m capital cost of the accessibility scheme. Trains have resumed calls at the island platform, closing the period of altered platform use associated with the foundations. The platform changes and construction programme were planned together so that services could continue while the new lift supports were installed.
The accessibility works are funded through the Department for Transport’s Access for All programme, supplemented by investment from Wandsworth Council. The full package includes new lifts reaching the station’s four platforms and a second station entrance with ticket barriers on Odyssey Way. The new northern access point is intended to serve development and passenger movements in the surrounding area as well as improve routes for existing station users.
Construction planning has separated foundation activity, shaft installation, and the subsequent entrance work. Following completion of piling, the immediate programme involves preparations for lift-shaft construction during December. Network Rail’s earlier timetable indicated the main lift installation phase would follow in 2027, with the new Odyssey Way entrance opening alongside the step-free routes. The detailed sequence remains subject to the demands of a live railway and any service alterations needed for the remaining works.
The new lifts must connect the existing station circulation routes to the platform levels, with safe interfaces around passenger movement and the operational railway. The Odyssey Way entrance adds a second access point and a new set of ticket barriers, requiring coordination of the station works with the surrounding public realm. The connection between the lifts, internal routes, and entrance needs to provide an uninterrupted step-free journey. This work will follow the foundation stage as the lift shafts and other station facilities are installed.
Wandsworth Town sits on the South Western route between Clapham Junction and Putney. Council figures show that more than 3.75 million passenger entries and exits were recorded between April 2024 and March 2025, making it the fifteenth busiest station on the South Western Railway network during that period. Passenger volumes increase the importance of retaining safe circulation and predictable train stopping arrangements throughout the construction programme.
Preparation began in February 2026, ahead of the works on the island platform foundations. Wandsworth Council reported in October that piling was approaching completion, and the 2 November milestone confirms that this phase has now finished. Lift shafts, new entrance structures, and associated passenger facilities remain to be installed before the station can provide step-free access to all four platforms. The railway will continue operating while those construction packages proceed.
The constrained site requires ongoing coordination of contractors’ access, passenger circulation, and possessions or other agreed track arrangements where necessary. Equipment and materials entering the works area have to be accommodated around railway operations, while temporary routes must remain intelligible to passengers when platforms or entrances are affected. The successful re-platforming during piling provides an established method for planning later interventions around train services. Subsequent phases will involve different interfaces as construction moves from foundations to shafts and the northern entrance.
Preparatory work for the lift shafts is scheduled in December, followed by the remaining vertical construction and the Odyssey Way entrance. The partners continue to target summer 2027 for step-free access to every platform. The piling milestone has returned the island platform to normal use while the project moves into the structures and facilities passengers will use. Final opening will follow completion and commissioning of those installations.
