The issue:
One of Alok’s top priorities as an MP has been to campaign to improve local transport infrastructure that will help boost Reading’s economy.
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Alok lobbied hard to win funding from the Department for Transport for the upgrade to Theale Station.
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The station will see improvements to the car park, a new ticket office, new cycle parking, a refreshment area, a new CCTV system and new pedestrian entrance.
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Alok has lobbied First Great Western and Network Rail to deliver this project quickly after delays as a result of the contract for works having to be re-drafted following Network Rail’s reclassification as a public sector body in September 2014 to ensure proper governance and to head off any implications regarding State Aid and Competition Law.
Alok Sharma, Reading West MP, and Roger York, Chairman of Theale’s Future which is a sub-committee of Theale Parish Council, have welcomed Rail Minister Norman Baker’s announcement on Tuesday 6th December that Theale railway station will benefit from investment of £1.25 million to provide a new footbridge and three lifts, which will make Theale station more easily accessible.