• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About DNS
  • Subscribe to DNS
  • Advertise with DNS
  • Support DNS
  • Contact DNS

Disability News Service

the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues

  • Home
  • Independent Living
    • Arts, Culture and Sport
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Housing
    • Transport
  • Activism & Campaigning
  • Benefits & Poverty
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
You are here: Home / News Archive / Government funding means Crossrail campaign success

Government funding means Crossrail campaign success

By John Pring on 21st November 2014 Category: News Archive, Transport

Listen

newslatestEvery rail station on the major new Crossrail project will now be step-free, following a successful two-year campaign by disabled and older people.

Transport for London (TfL) had already announced in September that Crossrail would be step-free from street-level to the train at every one of its London stations from the day it opens in 2019.

But the Department for Transport (DfT) has now announced a further £14 million funding to ensure that the three remaining inaccessible stations outside London – Langley, Taplow and Iver – will now also be step-free.

The announcement is another success for Transport for All (TfA), the user-led accessible transport charity that had been campaigning to persuade Crossrail, a TfL subsidiary, to make every one of its stations accessible.

The Crossrail route will serve 40 stations, connecting Reading and Heathrow airport in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, and will be fully operational by 2019, but campaigners were furious when it emerged that seven stations – Seven Kings, Maryland, Manor Park, Hanwell, Iver, Taplow and Langley – would not be completely step-free.

TfL and London’s Conservative mayor, Boris Johnson, announced in September that they had secured funding to install step-free access at the four London stations: Seven Kings, Maryland, Manor Park and Hanwell.

And this week the Liberal Democrat transport minister Baroness Kramer announced government funding for the three stations outside London.

Lianna Etkind, TfA’s campaigns and outreach co-ordinator, said: “This fantastic news means that disabled and older people will be able to use Crossrail with the same freedom and independence as everyone else.

“Transport for All has campaigned on this issue for over two years, and are delighted that DfT has funded a fully accessible Crossrail that London can be proud of.

“Making stations step-free benefits everyone, from people with luggage or shopping to parents with buggies.”

She said support for the campaign had been “truly inspiring”, with campaigners writing to their MPs, attending protests, and raising the issue with their local councils.

She added: “Hopefully, DfT’s decision represents a line in the sand so that never again can a new rail line be planned that is out of bounds to disabled and older people.”

Baroness Kramer said she was “delighted to confirm the funding of these important accessibility improvements”.

She added: “It is only right that everyone should be able to enjoy the huge benefits that Crossrail will bring.”

20 November 2014

Share this post:

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on WhatsAppShare on Reddit

Tags: Accessible transport Crossrail Transport for All Transport for London

Related

Government’s access advisers set to publish long-awaited documents, after ABC pressure
12th May 2022
New bill set to give fresh rights to disabled users of taxis and minicabs
28th April 2022
Government delayed rail report after it called for billions in access funds, emails reveal
7th April 2022

Primary Sidebar

Image shows a man wearing glasses sitting by an open laptop The text reads: Free Career Support for Disabled People Our services include: 1-2-1 Coaching Online Career Resources Find Support near you Search for Inclusive Jobs Career Events and Workshops Visit the Evenbreak Career Hive today to find out how we can help you

Access

Latest Stories

Grenfell: Call for action over government’s ‘deplorable’ decision on evacuation plans

‘Severely neglected’ man found dead, three months after DWP assessment

Government brands DNS ‘vexatious’ for trying to obtain info on 90 DWP deaths

Government’s ‘milestone’ disability jobs stats ‘are meaningless when it comes to equality’

Concern over offensive LGBT+ comments at access awards event

Universal credit boss defends years of misleading information

Discrimination could be a cause of increased risk of Covid death, says ONS

Access to Work in crisis as figures show ‘massive’ waiting-list

Queen’s speech: Activists’ message to Patel over new protest bill: ‘We fight on’

Queen’s speech: Six bills that may change disabled people’s lives, for better and for worse

Advice and Information

The Department for Work and Pensions: Deaths, cover-up, and a toxic 30-year legacy

Readspeaker

Footer

The International Standard Serial Number for Disability News Service is: ISSN 2398-8924

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 Disability News Service

Site development by A Bright Clear Web