The ongoing works at West Hampstead Overground station have seen lifts come into operation several weeks after the new footbridge opened.
Both platforms are now served by the new lifts.
Their introduction was made possible with the help of the Department of Transport (DfT) Access for All scheme which provided £3m worth of funding and has been the largest project to date to benefit from this programme.
The new lifts form part of a wider multi-million-pound redevelopment taking place at West Hampstead. A new concourse links to a more centrally located footbridge that provides customers easier access to the whole length of the platform.
Work on widening the platforms is due to be complete by the end of the year and will provide customers with more space to wait reducing crowding.
This now means that West Hampstead Overground and Thameslink Stations are fully accessible although interchange is via the street. Thus leaving West Hampstead Underground Station still in accessible .
The irony is that former Mayor Ken Livingstone who happens to live no far from West Hampstead began looking vat plans to make all three West Hampstead Stations accessible and even the possibility of trains on Chiltern and Metropolitan Line stopping to create a grand interchange. However, he lost the 2008 Mayoral electlon and successors Vanitybuses buses got the money instead !
Our daughter lives 2 mins from South Acton stn. Her Dad is disabled and because MH Broadway is still inaccessible and West Hampstead to Richmond no step free we have to go via piccadilly line making our journey 1.5 hrs long. This is unacceptable. Out of the 48 stns on the NL only 4 in the 21C are step free. Shocking.