A new £50 million platform is being built at Redhill railway station.

The plan for Platform 0 is to give extra space for passengers who are taking trains bound for London, and the work is scheduled to be completed by early 2018.

To commute to London, passengers will take trains from either the new platform or Platform 2, to be accessed through the tunnel, while Platform 1 will be used for trains terminating at the station.

Chairman of the Reigate , Redhill and District Rail Users' Association (RRDRUA), Steve Trigg said: "I'm very concerned about the final design. It should make things a bit better though.

Work is under way to open Platform 0 at Rehill train and railway station
Work is under way to open Platform 0 at Redhill station

"It's not that they are creating a Platform 0 that I'm worried about but that they are turning Platform 1 into a bay.

"There's nothing that we can do as the decision has been made and expensive, specialist equipment has been ordered – it's too far in the project to change anything."

At the annual meeting of the RRDRUA, Network Rail's South East route enhancement manager, Mike Smith, said: "Platform 0 will be an extra through- platform so there can be more Brighton trains, and it will be linked to Platform 2.

"The project is fully funded and it will be finished by 2018. It will increase services and ensure that Great Western can run more trains an hour.

"Work has begun and trees have been cut down."

Opposite Marketfield Way car park, contractors have closed the bus terminal to work on the extension – cutting trees and constructing the site.

With a new platform and the renovation of London Bridge there will also be a new timetable.

However, Mr Trigg said: "As part of the new timetable there won't be any trains to Brighton as most trains to Brighton were taken away in 2007, and it would halve our Crawley trains – it is a considerable reduction in services.

"It is just spin – in 2018 we will have exactly the same amount of trains to London Bridge that we had in 2011 before the services were cut."

There are also plans to rebuild the station with a car park, supermarket and flats, however work on that has not yet begun.

Solum Regeneration, a partnership between Kier Property and Network Rail, were contacted by the Mirror but did not respond before the paper went to press.