Surbiton railway station to get refurbished waiting rooms

Network Rail and South West Railways are planning to revamp the indoor waiting rooms at Surbiton station, improving the seating areas and providing automatic opening doors.

A planning application submitted to Kingston Council shows that the changes will provide further seating for the public and a standing workstation with charging points.

As the station is a Grade II listed building, Network Rail has a limit on what changes it can make, and It confirms that its changes will have a “minimum impact on the building fabric.”

The planning documents show that the two waiting rooms’ current layout, with their handful of benches, will be replaced with rows of individual seats, along with the new workstation and some artificial plants.

A station originally opened in 1838 in Surbiton because the railway was blocked from running a line through Kingston at the time. The station was then resited in either 1840 or 1845 half a mile to the west, in Surbiton. The station was completely rebuilt in 1937 and designed by James Robb Scott (designer of Waterloo Station’s Victory Arch) in an art deco style

The station was given a heritage listing in 1983.

The planning application is here.