Out with the old and in with the new. The rundown Strood railway station building will close over the weekend as work begins on a £2.8 million upgrade.

According to rail operators Southeastern, a temporary ticket office will be in place by Monday, platforms will remain open and train services will not by affected.

Strood is the latest Medway station receive funding as part of the Department for Transport’s National Stations Improvement Programme and Medway Council’s regeneration of the area.

Over the next nine months, the current station will be replaced by a smarter, brighter, more modern facility complementing the nearby £26m Rochester terminal which relocated to Corporation Street at the end of 2015.

The facelift is part of a £135m investment programme, with work also taking place at Rainham and on the Medway Valley Line. Passengers will benefit from more space including a bigger booking hall with an additional ticket gate, and a new waiting room with mobile phone charging points. Toilets will be replaced and a baby changing facility will be added.

Steve Cross, Southeastern project manager, said: “We have been working on plans for the new station for a long time and it’s great to see things taking shape.

“The new station will be fully accessible, give passengers more space, and will completely redefine the way people currently use it.

“The closure of the current station building will have no impact on passengers who should simply use the temporary ticket office or ticket vending machines, and follow the signs to the platforms. We’ll continue to keep disruption to a minimum while we progress work on the new station.”

The new-look station is due to open later in the year.

Further information from southeasternrailway.co.uk