UK: Work to provide step-free access at stations in Greater Manchester is picking up pace, with the current rolling programme of accessibility improvements set to see twice as many stations made step-free in the next three years as in the preceding decade.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham visited Irlam on May 12 to mark the completion of a £5·7m project funded by DfT’s Access for All programme to install two lifts to the existing pedestrian subway. Work at Swinton, Hindley, Bryn and Reddish North is scheduled for this year, with improvements at Flowery Field, Newton for Hyde, Bredbury and Levenshulme planned for 2026.
Reflecting on research which indicated that at the current rate of progress it could take 70 to 100 years to make the whole of the national rail network accessible, Burnham told Rail Business UK ‘we’ve got to move more quickly’.
He said making the network fully accessible ‘should be a national mission as far as I’m concerned, and we are doing our bit to speed things up in Greater Manchester. It finally feels we have got alignment with our colleagues in the rail industry, where we are all pointing in the same direction trying to get things moving.’
