A TRAIN has used the international terminal at London Waterloo for the first time in five years.

The special service from Woking to Waterloo International Terminal was a trial for when the terminal will be used by commuters, including those from Basingstoke, from April next year.

The international terminal at Waterloo was used by Eurostar until November 2007, when the service was moved to St Pancras.

Tim Shoveller, managing director of the Network Rail and South West Trains Alliance, said the journey marked the alliance’s first anniversary and illustrated its commitment to providing extra capacity at the country’s busiest railway station.

He said: “Bringing the Waterloo International Terminal into permanent use is an example of what the alliance can help to achieve.

“It has been made possible by working with many organisations, including the Department for Transport, and is vital for the much-needed development of the railway across the south and south west of England."

The alliance estimates that introducing more than 100 extra carriages, which will start this summer, and the use of platform 20 at the international terminal at Waterloo, will provide capacity for an additional 23,000 daily peak-time passengers by December 2014.

Work at the terminal will include opening a new exit through on to platform 19, re-railing parts of the track and installing new CCTV and lighting.