Government refuses to say how many rail stations will provide level boarding after major investment

The government and one of its state-owned rail operators are refusing to say how many stations will be able to provide level boarding for disabled passengers, following a decision to lease 29 new battery-electric trains.

The announcement by state-owned TransPennine Express (TPE) last week will see the British-built rail rolling-stock entering service from winter 2034 on routes from Liverpool Lime Street to Scarborough, Manchester Airport to Saltburn, and Manchester Piccadilly to Hull.

The trains and carriages would allow level boarding, but only at those stations that have carried out the necessary improvements to ensure the platforms are high enough.

Level boarding enables more people to travel independently, including those who use wheelchairs and mobility scooters, as well as families with pushchairs, and tourists with heavy luggage.

But it is also safer, because it removes the gap between the train and the platform, and it allows trains to spend less time at a platform.

Disability News Service (DNS) failed to secure clarification last week from the Department for Transport (DfT) on the number of stations that would be able to offer level boarding when the new rolling-stock comes into service.

And this week, DfT, TPE and Network Rail all refused to provide that clarification.

DfT would say only that the majority of the 333 platforms across the TPE network would be suitable for level boarding.

For those platforms where level boarding was not available, wheelchair-users will have to continue to rely on boarding ramps and staff assistance.

The failure to provide clarification casts significant doubt on how many disabled passengers will be able to take advantage of level boarding when the new TPE trains come into service.

Tony Jennings, co-founder of the disabled-led Campaign for Level Boarding, said: “The new TPE trains are being presented as a major accessibility improvement, but without identifying which stations will actually provide level boarding, wheelchair- and mobility scooter-users cannot tell where the promised independence will exist and therefore cannot assess the real accessibility benefit of the £1 billion investment.

“There is an important accountability issue as DfT has said that its forthcoming long-term rolling-stock and infrastructure strategy will take account of platform compatibility and that it is commissioning a study to identify practical locations for level boarding.

“That makes it reasonable to ask for considerably more transparency about which TPE stations are expected to have level boarding by 2034, which are not, and what is planned for the latter.

“The problem is that level boarding is only a benefit if the station infrastructure actually matches the new train.

“DfT is obscuring what the £1 billion rolling-stock investment actually delivers in accessibility terms.”

He said the government had stated that the 29 new trains would provide improved accessibility, including eliminating gaps between train and platform, “but without a station-by-station breakdown, passengers cannot establish how much of that promised benefit applies to their journeys”.

Baroness [Tanni] Grey-Thompson, another leading disabled campaigner on accessible transport, added: “It is essential that we know the rolling programme for getting the right platform heights so that low-level trains can provide the access they’re designed for.

“It’s not enough just to buy low-floor trains, but this is a significant start.

“Buying trains that don’t change how disabled people can access trains independently is only half the puzzle.”

Picture: A computer-generated image of a disabled passenger boarding one of the new trains