Government to support new Reading railway station

Plans for a new railway station at Green Park in Reading have received a £2.3m boost after a successful bid for government cash.The new south Reading station is one of five in the country to benefit from money from the New Stations Fund, the Department for Transport (DfT) has said.Reading Green Park Station is set to “significantly improve accessibility” to the south Reading area which has a large-scale development proposed, including the expansion of Green Park Business Park, Green Park Village residential development and the Royal Elm Park mixed-use development.The new station will be on the Reading to Basingstoke line and will be served by a half hourly service north to Reading and south to Basingstoke through the day. Reading Borough Council is working on the design of the station with Network Rail and Great Western Railway.The scheme was granted approval by the Berkshire Local Transport body in November 2014 and £9.15m funding has been approved from the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). A further £4.6m will come from s106 developer contributions.