Plaque unveiled in Stirling to commemorate £4m award-winning project

A plaque has been unveiled in Stirling to commemorate refurbishment work undertaken at the town’s train station.

The National Railway Heritage Awards (NRHA) accolade was awarded to Network Rail, Story Contracting and Transport Scotland for their work in refurbishing a footbridge and installing a lift at the station.

The £4 million project involved the station’s original 28-tonne historic lattice footbridge being carefully removed in August 2018, with it then undergoing ‘significant’ refurbishment before being reinstalled in May 2019, along with a new lift to create step-free access to all platforms.

NRHA awards are dedicated to encouraging and rewarding best practice in the restoration and continued upkeep of railway and tramway buildings and structures. The Stirling Station footbridge project was presented in the ‘London Underground Operational Enhancement Award’ category.

Alastair Macfarlane, head of engineering and asset management at Network Rail, said, “We are delighted to win this award which recognised the hard work the team put into preserving this important heritage structure, while making the station fit for purpose for all our passengers to use.

“Scotland’s Railway is for everyone and our stations are the gateway to the rail network.  It is important that they are not only welcoming and friendly but also that they don’t present any physical barriers to those seeking to travel by train.

“Making more stations step-free and improving accessibility is just one way we are building the best railway Scotland has ever had.”

Theo Steel, National Railway Heritage Awards chairman, added, “We’re absolutely delighted to see the progress at Stirling station and to join the team today to recognise the outstanding work that has been undertaken here.”