London Victoria will receive a £509m facelift.

The six-year program will start at Victoria Station in 2009 and will include increasing the size of the station by 50% with a new ticket hall, lifts and escalators. London Underground has appointed Mott MacDonald to be lead consultant.

Used by over 75m passengers each year, Victoria Station suffers from severe congestion in the morning rush hour, which means that it is impossible for the station to close while the work is carried out.

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: “The £509m redevelopment of Victoria Station is a great example of the huge investment being made to improve the Tube and transport across the Capital.

“This expansion is essential to meet Londons continued growth and development and to support the extra capacity on the Victoria line, due to be delivered by new trains and signaling system in 2013.”