Minister for Rail ( of Richmond Hill): This
government is committed to improving the accessibility of
Britain's railway and recognises the significant social and
economic benefits of doing so. As we move towards the
establishment of Great British Railways, we will provide greater
detail of how these ambitions will be funded and delivered.
Since 2006, the Access for All (AfA) programme has delivered step-free
accessible routes at over 270 stations.
In May 2024, the previous government announced feasibility work
on 50 stations without indicating how the delivery of such
schemes would be funded, raising significant stakeholder
expectations. This government is committed to a rigorous approach
and only making commitments we believe are affordable and would
represent value for money to passengers and taxpayers. As such,
ministers have carefully considered the findings of the initial
feasibility work and have decided which will progress, using the
following criteria:
- Busy stations, where upgrades would benefit significant
numbers of passengers.
- Ensuring a good spread of projects across Wales, Scotland and
different parts of England.
- Making use of pre-existing technical development work.
- The presence of a third-party funding contribution.
On this basis, ministers have made the following decisions in
relation to the 50 projects announced by the previous government:
The 8 projects are progressing directly to delivery:
- Ash Vale
- Colchester
- Port Sunlight
- Thirsk
- Walton (Merseyside)
- Bellgrove
- Aigburth (already in delivery)
- Rock Ferry (already in delivery)
The 23 projects are progressing to detailed design:
- Battle
- Bodmin Parkway Bredbury
- Castle Cary
- Dalston Kingsland
- Dorchester South Esher
- Falkirk Grahamston
- Flowery Field
- Gunnersbury
- Hedge End
- High Brooms
- Kew Bridge
- Kidbrooke
- Marden
- Newton for Hyde
- Raynes Park
- Ruabon
- Shotton
- Swanwick
- Ulverston
- Wymondham
- Yeovil Junction
The 19 projects will not be progressing at this point:
- Bushey
- Chinley
- Church and Oswaldtwistle
- Dudley Port
- Dumbarton Central
- Inverurie
- Leagrave
- Ledbury
- Maidstone West
- Neath
- Sileby
- Sleaford
- Small Heath
- South Croydon
- Stamford
- Stroud
- Upminster
- Whitchurch (Shropshire)
- Wivelsfield
The Rail Minister has written to the MP representing each of the 50
stations announced by the previous government. He has offered to
meet to explain the decision for those 19 projects which will not
be progressing at this point.
A future round of AfA may be
funded as part of the next spending review and this could provide
an opportunity to fully or partially fund accessibility upgrades
at other stations across Britain. The process and timings for
identifying potential future AfA projects have not yet been decided,
although we have committed to reforming the AfA programme as we move towards the
establishment of Great British Railways (GBR).
Third-party funding contributions will be a key consideration in
choosing future AfA schemes.
This approach recognises the limited funding government can make
available to fund accessibility upgrades, as well as the
significant benefits they bring to local communities. To support
this, officials will be working with Network Rail to develop
guidance setting out best practise examples of how local funding
packages have been assembled. We inherited a significant backlog
of AfA projects initiated
under the previous government. While we remain committed to the
delivery of the vast majority of these legacy AfA projects, ministers have taken
difficult but necessary decisions in relation to the following
five legacy projects:
-
Beaconsfield – delivery deferred to railway funding Control
Period 8 (2029 to 2034) to more efficiently align with
planned station drainage renewal works
-
Brondesbury – delivery deferred to 2028 to 2029 to more
efficiently align with planned station platform renewal works
-
Cricklewood – indefinitely deferred as the benefits such
upgrades would deliver to users of the station would not
justify the significant disruption caused to other users of
the Midland Main Line and the significant costs to passengers
and taxpayers
-
Ockenden – indefinitely deferred as the station is already
highly accessible, with only certain peak-time trains
stopping at the inaccessible platform
-
Palmers Green – indefinitely deferred as the benefits such
upgrades would deliver to users of the station would not
justify the significant disruption caused to other users of
the West Anglia Line and the significant costs to passengers
and taxpayers
The Rail Minister has written to the MP representing each of the above 5
legacy projects and has offered to meet to explain the decisions
made.
