Improving accessibility at railway stations across Britain
Provides an update on which UK rail stations will progress with the Access for All programme.
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:
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Beaconsfield – delivery deferred to railway funding Control Period 8 (2029 to 2034) to more efficiently align with planned station drainage renewal works
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Brondesbury – delivery deferred to 2028 to 2029 to more efficiently align with planned station platform renewal works
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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
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Ockenden – indefinitely deferred as the station is already highly accessible, with only certain peak-time trains stopping at the inaccessible platform
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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 Hertford Loop on the ECML 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.