Passengers using a once-unpopular Black Country train station have been handed a boost after work started this week to extend its popular Park and Ride service.

Centro, the region’s transport authority, are spending £250,000 to add an extra 47 parking spaces at Dudley Port, which has been criticised in the past for its dark and gloomy approaches, more than doubling its capacity to 83. High demand for the current facility led Centro to step in with taxpayers’ money to ease overcrowding at the station and reduce parking in the surrounding area, which has been causing traffic problems on a main arterial road.

The spaces will be available in a new car park accessible from Park Lane East, which will be fitted with CCTV cameras and upgraded lighting.  Centro chairman, Councillor Angus Adams, said: “This is excellent news for rail users, commuters and the environment. Park and Ride has proved a very popular scheme and we are pleased to be able to continue this good work by providing even more spaces at Dudley Port. These new spaces will make a major difference in helping to tackle congestion and pollution.”

The new car park will be next to the current facility and will be linked by the existing footpath from Park Lane East, which will undergo lighting and surfacing improvements. The work is scheduled for completion in the summer and passengers will be able to use the existing spaces throughout the extension.