A project to install a new waiting area on the Marshlink platform at Ashford International Station has reached completion. This is down to huge amounts of hard work and ingenuity by a team of platform staff, led by Josh Mears, who devised the new scheme.
The project has taken a while, and lots of patience, three years in total. The staff involved are fantastically proud of the upcycled seating which was rescued from a retired Greater Anglia MK3 carriage, a design called the Intercity70 or IC70. The seats were purchased from the Mid Norfolk Railway at Dereham. The tables are from a surviving class 365 Networker, preserved at The East Kent Railway at Shepherdswell. Each seating area has charging points and the waiting area is now a very pleasant space to to sit and work in, or have a coffee, while waiting for a train.
Southeast Communities Rail Partnership has funded the seating area alongside support from Southeastern Railway. Photo: Josh Mears
