Member of Parliament for South Leicestershire, Alberto Costa, recently met with representatives from Cross Country Trains, the Department for Transport and the station’s community group, Friends of Narborough Station (FONS), in order to discuss proposals for improvements at Narborough railway station.
Alberto hosted the meeting in Westminster to discuss timetable changes proposed by the Friends of Narborough group, as well as the group’s plans to take on the responsibility for the station under a Community Rail Station Partnership.
Alberto said, “I was very pleased to organise this recent meeting, bringing together representatives from the rail operator, Cross Country Trains, the Department for Transport and the excellent Friends of Narborough Station (FONS) who have been doing some tremendous work on behalf of local rail users. As the only railway station in South Leicestershire, Narborough is hugely important to the transport infrastructure of the area and with almost 400,000 passengers using the station annually, it’s imperative that the station and the operator provides the most efficient and effective service it can for constituents and passengers”.
Mr John Harrison, Chairman of the Friends of Narborough Station, added, ““On behalf of the Friends of Narborough Station, could I thank our Constituency MP Alberto Costa, for meeting with me at Westminster. As a group we have a couple of main objectives. Our first one is to improve the level of rail services provided at the station, our second objective being to enhance the appearance of the station, including the Main Building, Signal Box and former Station Master’s garden. Gaining our MP’s help and support is of great encouragement to us as a group and will help to maintain the appearance of what is a conservation area”
Alberto concluded, “Narborough is a lovely little station with a rich history that deserves protection and preservation and FONS have some very exciting plans to renovate and reinvigorate some of the older parts of the station for the benefit of constituents and railway enthusiasts. I am very grateful for the brilliant work FONS have been doing on behalf of constituents and rail users, both in terms of timetables and station preservation, and I look forward to continue working closely with them in the future”.
Alberto is pictured above with (L-R) Mr John Harrison, Chair of Friends of Narborough Station (FONS), Mr Richard Gibson, Head of Communications at Cross Country Trains, and Mr John McQuarrie, Senior Commercial Manager at the Department for Transport.