A £250,000 project to refurbish Ockendon station to provide better facilities for passengers has been completed. Improvements include new lighting on the footbridge, new toilets and new cycle parking facilities. The waiting room has also been redecorated and now opens to the platform with an automatic door while the station building has been externally refurbished.

Jackie Doyle-Price, MP for Thurrock, said: “If we want more people to use the trains, then improving the quality and safety of our stations is a key factor. It’s good to see this type of investment going into Ockendon station, and I believe the improvements will be very popular with passengers.”

Andy Bottom, Network Rail general manager, said: “This investment will make a difference to passengers and is part of a wider effort to build a bigger, better railway. As well as providing a safe, punctual and reliable train service we must give passengers a better journey experience. These improvements mean people who live and work in Ockendon now have a more modern station with enhanced facilities.”

Julian Drury, c2c managing director, said: “c2c’s passengers at Ockendon already enjoy the most punctual train service in the UK, and now they will really benefit from these station improvements. We’re ambitious to do everything we can to continue upgrading our stations and services along the route.”

Improvements at Ockendon were funded through the Department for Transport’s National Stations Improvement Programme (NSIP). Upgrades are also being carried at four other stations on the c2c route at Chalkwell, Laindon, Tilbury Town and Chafford Hundred.