Teddington station set to get step free access with new lifts

Teddington station in south-west London could get step-free access, as Network Rail has filed an application for a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) to permit construction works.

At the moment, there are two entrances to Teddington station and two platforms. There is level access to platform 1 via the station building or an entrance on Victoria Road. Access to platform 2 is via an entrance on Station Road.

Although there is level access on each side of the station there is no accessible link between the two platforms. The only way to cross between the platforms is via a footbridge with 52 steps or, for those unable to use the footbridge, a twenty-minute walk alongside busy roads.

Teddington station had already been selected by the Department for Transport to be made accessible and been allocated funding as part of the Access for All Programme. If the application is approved, the existing footbridge, which links the two platforms, and is open as a public crossing would get two new 16-person capacity lifts added next to them.

The TWAO is required because Network Rail needs to buy a small plot of land next to the station for the eastbound platform lift shaft and block off part of the road outside the station. The plot of land sits next to a Garden Centre, and the despite talks for the past four years, neither side were able to agree on terms to sell the land.

Planning permission for the works was granted by the local council in June 2020, and subject to securing the necessary land, the works will be constructed in 2022/23.