Stations with lifts but not to all platforms

[Bletchleyite]

On this thread:

Bletchley Eastern entrance UPDATEs

My apologies, and mods please delete or move this if so, if there is already a more appropriate thread somewhere - it didn't quite fit with E-W rail updates or consultation as it is about an existing station - but is it worth having a thread for updates on the new eastern entrance to Bletchley...

www.railforums.co.uk

...it's pointed out that Bletchley has lifts to all platforms except 6 for the Marston Vale. I suspect the reasons for this are twofold - one, that BR expected at the time the lifts were installed that the line would close fairly soon, and two, that at the time they could use Platform 5 more readily for this service as until the 12-car platform extensions you could get from the Up Bletchley and the carriage sidings to Platform 4 so 5 wasn't needed as much for other purposes (though in my experience the service has mostly used 6 for the time I've been familiar with it, which is about 25 years now).

Notably the maps on the Class 730s are wrong and suggest Bletchley has lifts to all platforms. It can generally be arranged for the MV service to use 5 when it is booked 6 (even if they have to shunt it out of the station or across to 6 during the long layover to let a freight past or get a unit out of the depot or carriage sidings) but it's only done when assistance is booked, though some services where no other use of 5 is required during the layover time (e.g. during the day) do use it anyway.

Are there any other stations in this sort of position, and what in each case are the reasons, even if they might be flawed?

I don't include here London Underground, where there are quite a few examples and the reason is generally the cost/complexity of doing this underground. Just "National Rail" stations.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Manchester Oxford road platform 1 has no lift access, it is very rarely used by passenger trains as a result.
There is the refurbishment speculated to remove platform 1 and 5 to have 2 through platforms and a central terminating bay which would remove the issue.

 

[321362]

Hackney Downs only has step-free access to Platform 1 as the access is via the connecting passageway to Hackney Central, which is fully step-free.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Manchester Oxford road platform 1 has no lift access, it is very rarely used by passenger trains as a result.
There is the refurbishment speculated to remove platform 1 and 5 to have 2 through platforms and a central terminating bay which would fix the issue.

Thanks, I'd forgotten that one. I seem to remember the reason being that 1 was added to the station later than the main construction and extending the lift subway to it was too complex/costly, plus it's quite narrow (another reason not to use it).

I suppose the station is now pretty much used as a 3 platform one anyway unless a unit needs putting somewhere due to a failure or other incident, only 4 (towards Picc), 2 (away from Picc) and 5 (the bay) are used in normal operations.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I suppose the station is now pretty much used as a 3 platform one anyway unless a unit needs putting somewhere due to a failure or other incident, only 4 (towards Picc), 2 (away from Picc) and 5 (the bay) are used in normal operations

Yes, although freight trains and ECS movements will often pass 1 or 3 instead of using the passenger tracks.
During the Ardwick Junction closure full use of the station was made in a way I don't think would be possible with the 3 platform setup (or at least they would have to have 2 trains in Picc Platform 13 simultaneously).

 

[stadler]

On this thread:

Bletchley Eastern entrance UPDATEs

My apologies, and mods please delete or move this if so, if there is already a more appropriate thread somewhere - it didn't quite fit with E-W rail updates or consultation as it is about an existing station - but is it worth having a thread for updates on the new eastern entrance to Bletchley...

www.railforums.co.uk

...it's pointed out that Bletchley has lifts to all platforms except 6 for the Marston Vale. I suspect the reasons for this are twofold - one, that BR expected at the time the lifts were installed that the line would close fairly soon, and two, that at the time they could use Platform 5 more readily for this service as until the 12-car platform extensions you could get from the Up Bletchley and the carriage sidings to Platform 4 so 5 wasn't needed as much for other purposes (though in my experience the service has mostly used 6 for the time I've been familiar with it, which is about 25 years now).

Notably the maps on the Class 730s are wrong and suggest Bletchley has lifts to all platforms. It can generally be arranged for the MV service to use 5 (even if they have to shunt it out of the station or across to 6 during the long layover to let a freight past or get a unit out of the depot or carriage sidings) but it's only done when assistance is booked.

Are there any other stations in this sort of position, and what in each case are the reasons, even if they might be flawed?

I don't include here London Underground, where there are quite a few examples and the reason is generally the cost/complexity of doing this underground. Just "National Rail" stations.

I can think of some stations that use lifts for some platforms and ramps for other platforms. Lewes has lifts only to P1 and P4/P5 but yet on P2/P3 they have a long ramp instead. But it is still step free access to all platforms.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I can think of some stations that use lifts for some platforms and ramps for other platforms. Lewes has lifts only to P1 and P4/P5 but yet on P2/P3 they have a long ramp instead. But it is still step free access to all platforms.

Yes, that isn't unusual. I'm more thinking about stations that have step free access only to some platforms because lifts have been installed but not to all of them, i.e. a deliberate decision was made to make some platforms accessible but not others, and why that might be. There will be a fair few small two-platform stations where there's step free access to the platform that's adjacent to the entrance (where this is only on one side) but not the other one, and there will be more where there is step free access to both but only via a long route via the road rather than the footbridge (loads of those on Merseyrail) - I'm less interested in these as there will be quite a lot of them.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I'm not sure about Preston's lift provision to the out of use platforms, does the ex-mail terminal have lifts?
I think the ex-Platform 7 has lifts since it's the way out to the car park.

 

[stadler]

Yes, that isn't unusual. I'm more thinking about stations that have step free access only to some platforms because lifts have been installed but not to all of them, i.e. a deliberate decision was made to make some platforms accessible but not others, and why that might be. There will be a fair few small two-platform stations where there's step free access to the platform that's adjacent to the entrance (where this is only on one side) but not the other one, and there will be more where there is step free access to both but only via a long route via the road rather than the footbridge (loads of those on Merseyrail) - I'm less interested in these as there will be quite a lot of them.

Balham is a good example of what you are looking for. P1/P2 (the slow lines island) have a lift to the platforms. P3/P4 (the fast lines island) only have stairs up to the platforms. This means that the station is inaccessible for wheelchair users for the few trains that call on the fast lines during the early mornings and late evenings and often during engineering work. I suppose they never bothered spending the money on a second lift due to how few trains use these platforms.

 

[iphone76]

At Goodmayes the Up Main Platform 1, currently does not have lift access. However, work is underway to install them.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

Gerrards Cross is a bit of an odd one.
Platforms are on the ground level, but the main entrance is at first floor level (at same height as the footbridge).

There's a lift from Platform 1 (Northbound) to the footbridge, but not Platform 2 (Southbound) where the entrance is.
Platform 2 does still have step free access, but you have to go down the long ramp to the car park (at ground level) and double back on yourself to reach the entrance there.

[Image shows the station plan of Gerrards Cross from National Rail website]

Most of the time, this would be fine as most people will only ever need to access one platform or the other.
However, it makes interchange between the two rather difficult.... as we found out a while back when our train to London failed in Platform 2 and the replacement was moved across to Platform 1.
They didn't give enough time for passengers with mobility impairments to switch between the two platforms and were trying to dispatch the train while people, including my wife, were still coming down in the lift!

 

[markydh]

Platforms 5-8 at Newcastle Central don’t have lift access and are only accessible via the bridge that has rather steep ramps.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Platforms 5-8 at Newcastle Central don’t have lift access and are only accessible via the bridge that has rather steep ramps.

Carlisle has a very similar arrangement with the high bridge with steep ramps, but appears from the access map to have lifts onto the bridge as well. Perhaps a recent addition?

Carlisle access map: https://images.nationalrail.co.uk/e...4b0332a21f4745b5e21d/Carlisle_station_map.jpg
(linked rather than embedded due to its size)

 

[LittleRedTrain]

Carlisle has a very similar arrangement with the high bridge with steep ramps, but appears from the access map to have lifts onto the bridge as well. Perhaps a recent addition?

At Carlisle the lifts are to a separate subway, rather than the bridge.

 

[Magdalia]

Currently Luton only has a lift to platform 5 but there are proposals to rectify that.

Long-awaited work starts to make Luton station step free

Improvements to Luton's railway station, first promised back in 2006, are finally getting started.

www.bbc.co.uk

Work has begun to make access to a railway station step free - nearly 20 years after it was first promised.
Passengers at Luton were first told back in 2006 the improvements were on the way, external when the government launched an Access for All fund, promising to spend £370m over 10 years.
Despite successive governments announcing fresh funding, the work was never done.
But Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway said the project had finally got underway. The finish date is spring 2027.

Only one platform at Luton's station has step-free access

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Didcot Parkway has lifts to Platforms 2 & 3 and to Platforms 4 & 5, but not to Platform 1.

There are stairs from the tunnel and there's a ramp to the platform; however, for the latter, you have to go from the tunnel through the gates, go outside the building and turn right to get to the ramp. I'm not sure why there isn't a lift, because it looks to me that there is a space just before the gates that could be used.

I can just about use the stairs (I walk with a stick because of two knackered knees!) but I have to use the ramp if I have a case, which I do from time to time.

 

[zwk500]

Lawrence Hill is due to get a lift to the Down platform only: https://travelwest.info/projects/improving-accessibility-at-lawrence-hill-station/

The Up platform is accessible via a (quite tight and steep) ramp from the adjacent supermarket car park already, but any transfer between platforms would be rather long winded! However, that won't matter to the overwhelming majority of users, who will simply be entering or leaving the station.

 

[Mcq]

Hertford North has a lift to platform 2 (Downline to Stevenage) & platform 3 (Bay), but not platform 1which is the Upline to Moorgate and those stairs are steep if you have luggage.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Sale and then Brooklands are a couple of tram stops on the Manchester Metrolink system which have lifts, but only on the Manchester bound side of the station(s), where the respective platform(s) are hemmed in between the track and the adjacent Bridgewater Canal. On the other side of these two stations, there's level access to/from the station access road(s). Must be others where the Metrolink follows former heavy rail alignments.

 

[Melancholia]

Maidenhead lacks a lift to Platform 1, with step free access provided by a long ramp that ends up in a car park.