Work to "vastly improve" Gravesend railway station is set to commence next month, with the project expected to be finished in early 2014.

The scheme is aimed at making the station more pleasant for passengers and also to ensure that longer 12-car trains can serve the area. This will enable rail operators to increase the capacity of their services if they so wish.

Funding for the £19 million project has been provided by Network Rail and the government's Access For All programme.

In order to complete the job, the station will be closed for 15 days over Christmas and New Year, as complicated track layout changes and construction work in the building itself need to be undertaken.

Fiona Taylor, Network Rail's route managing director for Kent, said: "While passenger numbers on the railway increase year-on-year, we continue to invest to provide the facilities and capacity to meet this demand."

This is just one tiny part of Network Rail's plans to overhaul the UK's transport infrastructure in the coming years and the firm has pledged to spend around £37 billion on improvements by 2019.