Rebuild of Reading station is part of £850m wider project

Contractor Costain has won the job to rebuild and expand Reading station as part of Network Rail’s £850m of works to improve capacity at the main line pinch point.

The station job, thought to be worth in the region of £80m, will see Costain build five new platforms, two new entrances and a footbridge across all platforms, with associated lifts, ticket halls and retail spaces.

Costain beat rival short-listed contractor Morgan Sindall to the job, with one insider saying the winning bid was around £5m lower.

Network Rail’s revamp of Reading, designed to increase train capacity on the Great Western mainline, is its largest engineering project outside of London. As well as rebuilding the station, the project involves adding new rail lines and a high-speed rail viaduct in order to take express trains over slow-moving freight trains.

It is designed to remove the need for trains to queue in to Reading station at peak hours. Network Rail is expected to make a formal announcement of Costain’s appointment as preferred contractor tomorrow.

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