Passengers travelling through Elstree & Borehamwood station in Herts will have noticed a refreshed and decluttered environment as part of an industry-leading programme to modernise stations managed by train company GTR.

The ‘Model Stations’ refresh has split the booking hall into zones, built upon the station’s ties with the local community, and seen staff equipped with new uniforms and Great Journey Makers training.

Thameslink’s parent company GTR pioneered the Model Stations concept to vastly improve the customer experience within stations, creating a more consistent environment in order to attract new passengers to the railway – considering stations as the railway’s ‘shopfront’ – and improve it for existing passengers.

Elstree & Borehamwood, managed by Thameslink, joins Gipsy Hill in South London and Enfield Chase in North London as blueprints of what can be achieved with the concept, as a trio of stations with different accessibility levels.

Plans are in place for the project’s successes to be taken across GTR’s network of 236 stations and beyond, with better stations being just one of many improvements passengers will see ahead of the formal establishment of Great British Railways by the end of 2027.

Louis Rambaud, GTR’s Chief Customer Officer, said: “With the latest Model Station unveiled at Elstree & Borehamwood, we’re showing that our new blueprint for railway stations works, with customer satisfaction immediately increasing at all three of our pilot stations and we’ve heard positive feedback from customers and staff alike.

“Stations sit right at the centre of every community we serve, and our Model Station programme looks to build on this position through close collaboration with our valued community groups, passengers and staff alike.

“And while we can’t transform the UK’s entire network of stations in one go, we are able to create a clear outline of expected outcomes: a welcoming and clean environment; safe and secure stations with digitised elements fit for today’s passengers; and with accessibility and ease of use at their core – which we can use to deliver the best result for taxpayers and passengers alike.

“We have brilliant teams at each of our three pilot stations who have been through our new Great Journey Makers training programme, empowering them with the skills to create Moments of Connection with all of our passengers. We’ll be inviting our managers to visit these completed locations, to take pictures and consider how they can bring their stations up to a similar standard.”

The Model Station concept works by removing visual and physical clutter from around the station, refurbishing customer-facing areas and splitting the main booking hall into zones for planning journeys, buying tickets and travelling.

Ticket machines now belong next to the ticket office under a bold and colourful ‘Get your Tickets’ banner, and a new interactive screen features alongside improved information posters under a pink ‘Plan your Journey’ banner.

The station’s staff have all undertaken Great Journey Makers training, which focuses delivering great, consistent customer service by encouraging staff to make Moments of Connection with customers. They are also sporting new uniforms to make them easily recognisable and approachable.

Elstree & Borehamwood station serves the thriving TV and film industry in the region, being the closest station to Elstree Studios, the BBC Elstree Centre and Sky Studios Elstree, where a regular electric shuttle bus operates between the station and the Studios.

Since the refurbishment, customer satisfaction among passengers has shot up by +20 percentage points from 67% to 87.5% and the station will be closely monitored with a new Customer Service Quality Management standard.

Behind the scenes, new consistent processes ensure efficient, safer and smarter ways of working, whilst still retaining the station’s local character. With the pilot complete, GTR is encouraging managers to visit the three stations and consider how their stations could be brought up to the same standard.

Alex Hynes, Chief Executive of DFTO, GTR’s parent organisation, said: “The Model Stations programme at GTR exemplifies the modern, customer-focused railway we are building for the public.

“With eight in ten passenger journeys made on one of our publicly-owned operators, there’s a great opportunity to share successes from this scheme across the country as we work together to build a better railway for everyone in Britain.”

A celebration of the programme’s completion at Elstree & Borehamwood was held in the newly-opened The Carriage coffee shop on Friday, July 24 with key local stakeholders in attendance including the Mayors of Elstree and Hertsmere, First Impressions chairman Bob Redman and GTR’s Chief Customer Officer Louis Rambaud.

Chair of community group First Impressions Bob Redman said: “It’s an exciting time for Elstree & Borehamwood. The studios are booming and without the railway, film and TV wouldn’t ever have come here. We set out to create pride of place in the area and it’s schemes like this which achieve just that, from the moment you step off the train.

“This is only possible through the strong relationships we’ve built with people at organisations like Thameslink, who share the same values and want to work collaboratively to achieve something great for the community.”

The Mayor of Hertsmere, Cllr Parveen Rani, said: “Our railway station is much more than simply a place where people catch a train. It is the gateway to our town, providing visitors with their first impression of our community and welcoming thousands of residents, commuters and tourists every day. It is therefore fitting that we celebrate the investment that has been made to enhance this important public space.”

Cllr Jeremy Newmark, Leader of Hertsmere Council added: “We welcome this investment in Elstree and Borehamwood – as our local economy continues to grow and attract new investment, it’s essential that our transport infrastructure keeps pace.

“A modern high quality station will benefit residents and commuters and strengthen our appeal to business and investors.”

The main booking hall has been refurbished and split into easily-recognisable ‘zones’ where passengers can plan journeys, buy tickets and travel.

Where ticket machines were once placed amongst poster boards and newspaper bins, they’ve now been relocated to a simple ‘get your tickets’ section next to the ticket office. Redesignednformation posters and a new interactive screen now sit underneath the departure boards for easy journey planning.

The interactive screen puts information like onward travel, a station map and British Sign Language departures at a passengers’ fingertips.

The northern footbridge between platforms has been enhanced with a new, grippier surface and colourful posters to inspire future rail journeys.

The platforms have been given a deep clean and a lick of paint, with bright Thameslink pink painted on every pillar. Improved wayfinding signs now conform to the Rail Alphabet standard to ensure consistency across the national railway network.

The entrance to the station from the Car Park in Theobald Street was in need of a touch-up, with unsightly bins and containers kept under the road bridge. These have now been masked with journey inspiration banners and a new “welcome” sign has been installed under the bridge.