ACCESSING BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS

BY KATIE CAMPBELL

In the next ten years, our railway stations should become considerably more accessible for everyone - but how accessible are they for passengers currently?

With the origin of Britain’s railways dating back almost 200 years, it will come as no surprise that many of the 2,566 train stations - that’s not including the stations of the London Underground, Glasgow Subway, Docklands Light Railway, or Tyne and Wear Metro - located all across the country are, at times, not the most accessible. With the government committed to ensuring every station in Britain has stepfree access by 2030, we take a look at how accessible our railway network is, and what it needs to do to allow everyone to get onboard.

WALES

The five most used train stations in Wales are Cardiff Central, Newport, Cardiff Queen Street, Swansea, and Bridgend. Much like in Scotland, the accessibility of these stations are exceptionally good: Cardiff Central, Newport, and Cardiff Queen Street, lack a Changing Places facility, while Swansea and Bridgend provide all of the accessibility provisions listed by Network Rail. In figures published by the House of Commons library, Wales excelled in its offering of train ramp access at stations (94%) and step free access (79%). Some areas of Wales, including South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan, internally provide excellent accessibility options, with 100% of ticket machines being accessible and 89% of stations in the area offering step free access, respectively. However, the area of Gwynedd - home to Snowdonia - ranked one of the least accessible in Britain in the areas of accessible ticket machines (6%), accessible ticket offices (6%), and mobility set down (6%).

SCOTLAND

Scotland’s four busiest railway stations - Glasgow Central, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Queen Street, Paisley Gilmour Street, and Haymarket - are all ranked highly in their accessibility. Central and Waverley lack a National Key scheme toilet, while Queen Street, Paisley, and Haymarket do not have a Changing Places facility. Otherwise, each of these stations offer step-free access, have staff available to help any traveller who requires it, and offer train access via ramps. Accessibility at stations in the Highlands is spotty in locations: for example, most of the stations on the Far North line, which connects Inverness to Wick do not provide ramp access to trains, are only partially accessible, lacking any kind of toilets, and many are unstaffed due to their remote location. Per information provided by the House of Commons library, Scotland scores lowest in stations offering train ramp access (35%), National Key scheme toilets (4%), and mobility step down (10%).

Figures taken from House of Commons Library publication How Accessible are Britain’s Railway Stations? Published February 2019.

ENGLAND

Outside of London, the four busiest stations are Birmingham New Street, Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly, and Gatwick Airport. As major transportation hubs, these stations are very accessible: Birmingham New Street has all available accessibility provisions listed by Network Rail, Manchester Piccadilly and Gatwick do not have Changing Places facilities, and Leeds lacks both a National Key scheme toilet, and a Changing Places facility. On average, England excluding London offers better than average provisions for disabled travellers: overall, 68% of stations offer step-free access, and 80% offer ramp access. In some areas, this is higher, such as in Yorkshire and the Humber, where 99% of stations offer ramp access to trains, and in the North East, where 84% of stations have step-free access.

Within London, accessibility varies: it has the highest percentage of accessible ticket offices (33%), and the lowest percentage of stations which offer step-free access (44%). Its busiest stations - Waterloo, Victoria, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, and Euston - all offer a high degree of accessibility: however, Waterloo, Victoria, and London Bridge lack National Key Scheme toilets and a Changing Place, while Liverpool Street and Euston have no Changing Places facilities.