The government has announced that seven London railway stations will be part of a wider package of improvements to accessibility.
A pot of £20 million is being allocated to improve access in 124 stations across the UK, of which seven of the Network Rail owned stations are in London.
These improvements are being made through the Access for All programme which, since 2006, has already made more than 200 stations step free, as well as delivered smaller scale accessibility improvements at more than 1,500 others to improve passenger experience.
It’s not new money though, being part of a previously announced £300 million upgrade which has already improved 73 stations across the UK.
The London stations to be upgraded are:
- Barking
- Chessington South
- Ealing Broadway
- Hackney Downs
- Kew Bridge
- Surbiton
- West Croydon
West Croydon already has step free access to all platforms. Maybe a faster way of getting from platform 1 to platforms 3&4 without leaving the station?
But Surbiton also has lifts, are they broken again?
Accessibility isn’t just about physical ability – visual aids, bigger display screens etc are also all part of making a station accessible.
Ealing Broadway, part of the Crossrail scheme. To be upgraded as part of Crossrail