Vow to modernise stations

Plans to transform railway stations on London's main commuter routes were being unveiled by the Conservatives today.

Transport spokesman Tim Yeo was promising a programme of refurbishment to bring stations to the same standard as airports.

In the first year of a Tory government, 20 stations would be upgraded using private investment. "I'll bring stations out of the 19th century and into the 21st," he was due to say. "Today's airports are designed for the comfort of travellers with good shops, business services in the lounges and wellprotected against the weather.

"Stations couldn't be more different. Outside London they've hardly changed in a hundred years."

Aides said the first wave of stations had yet to be chosen but would be on key commuter routes in the South-East.