THE MP for Windsor was on hand to mark the completion of £6.5million of investment into Ascot station.

On Friday Adam Afriyie joined Network Rail bosses on the newly extended platforms and tried out the now fully-accessible footbridge.

The bridge provides step-free access to all platforms via lifts and aims to make journeys smoother for people with luggage, prams and mobility issues.

Mr Afriyie said: “I am thrilled to open the new footbridge at Ascot station which is now in keeping with the beauty of the local area.

“Residents and racegoers can now enjoy a better experience and I’m delighted that we’re seeing year-on-year improvements to the Ascot area.”

The longer platforms allow South West Trains to include more carriages on their services and comes as part of £800million of Waterloo and South West upgrades to increase capacity at Waterloo by 30 per cent by the end of 2018.

Becky Lumlock, route managing director at Network Rail, said: “Our Railway Upgrade Plan is all about delivering a better railway for passengers, and the completion of the platform extensions and footbridge at Ascot is doing exactly that.

“Passengers will shortly be able to take full advantage of the longer trains, and once we have completed our work at Waterloo, we'll be able to accommodate an extra 45,000 passengers - equivalent to more than the capacities of the O2 arena and Oval cricket ground combined - each morning and each evening.

"I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we’ve upgraded their station.”