Plans for a complete revamp of the crumbling station to transform it into one of the country's main gateway interchanges will be drawn up by rail bosses inside a year.

The overhaul is set to include the replacement of footbridge steps with escalators and lifts to make it more passenger friendly, a brand new first class lounge, new toilets and passenger facilities and a complete renovation to spruce up its shoddy appearance.

Rail campaigners hope the makeover will see new shops in the station too.

With passenger numbers expected to soar and more trains due to be introduced to the network by 2012, Preston will become one of the region's main interchange stations - the Lancashire equivalent of Manchester's flagship Piccadilly.

The news was today branded a long overdue boost for passengers reeling from hordes of late and cancelled trains, continuing maintenance work, soaring rail fares and poor facilities at Preston station.

Julie Warburton, passenger link manager at rail watchdog Passenger Focus, said: "It is extremely good news.

"I live just outside Preston and I travel regularly. I'm always on Virgin's back about the state of that station, it's ridiculous.

"The toilets are unbelievable - it is things like that there needs to be more of. It needs to come into the 21st century."

Aiden Turner-Bishop, of the Campaign for Better Transport in Lancashire, said: "It would be an opportunity to put in new shops, a little supermarket, fresh food, more cafes and it would be very handy to have it before the Guild in 2012.

"It is good news but let's hope they do it nicely."

Neil Cartwright, cabinet member for development at Preston Council, said: "That is absolutely wonderful. The one thing about the station is there is a lot of empty space and I hope Network Rail and Virgin will be looking at how they can make the most of that room."

The revamp of Preston station, a Grade II listed building which was first built in 1938, is part of the West Coast Main Line Rail Utilisation Strategy (RUS) - Network Rail's 10 year vision of development and improvements on the route.

Initial discussions will begin within the next two months and proper planning will start in around April next year, once Network Rail and rail groups have had time to assess the impact of a new West Coast timetable which is due to be introduced in December this year.

The RUS document is due to be go out to consultation in around 12 months time when full details of how the station will be improved will be finalised.

Initial improvements to Preston station are due to begin next year, when a new multi-storey car park at the site will be completed.

The Lancashire and Cumbria RUS - due to be published in its final form later this month - is also recommending moving two buildings at the bottom of steps from the footbridge on to platforms one and two in 2009.

The document says the buildings obstruct passengers getting on and off trains.

The Lancashire and Cumbria RUS estimates the station revamp would bring £35m of economic benefits to the city and the capital cost of the project would likely be less than £23m.

It comes after the Evening Post reported on the state of the city's third world public transport network.

And experts are predicting tickets could rise by a further 5.5% in January 2009, based on expected inflation.

By 2012, the Government is planning to introduce 1,300 extra train carriages to the nationwide network to cope with increasing passenger numbers.

In 2006/7 around 3.5m people used Preston station - an increase of more than 10% on 2004/5.