The Firefighters Visit Waterloo Station

Figure: L:R, John Norris, Nicole Hoffman, Tony Drewitt, David Holt, Michael Rollings, Frances Blois

A small group of Firefighters had a unique tour behind the scenes of the Waterloo Station upgrade recently. Our visit started with a short overview of the project by the Project Manager for Network Rail, Alison Farwell. She noted the work to extend some of the platforms in the main station, which had been completed last year, and went on to describe the rebuilding of the old Waterloo International Terminal, which was to be the subject of our visit.

Then, courtesy of Liveryman Nicole Hoffmann, who is the Principal Fire Engineer for the project, we were able to tour the former Waterloo International site, where the old platforms 20-24 will be brought back into use for suburban services by December 2018.

Nicole was able to show us many of the fire safety and passenger evacuation features being incorporated into the project design. Our walk around the site included all three levels of the terminal; the platform level, the Orchestra Pit level and London Underground level.

For those of us who had used the old Eurostar lines it was a real treat to see some familiar features of the old terminal. This was very much a tour around an active and busy building site so, as the photo shows, we were all provided with full PPE.

After the visit we adjourned for a light lunch, appropriately in the old 1910 Waterloo Road Fire Station, now a restaurant.

David Holt, PRM Committee and Events Committee