Network Rail delays releasing station access funding figures until after election

Network Rail has delayed releasing figures until after the general election that would have shown how much funding the government has allocated to improve access at train stations.

The delay means it will not be possible to hold the government to account if it emerges – as some campaigners believe likely – that spending on the Access for All scheme, which improves access at railway stations, has been cut.

Disability News Service (DNS) submitted a freedom of information request on 31 May for figures that would show how much funding the government has allocated to the Access for All programme in every year since 2017-18, and how much ended up being spent on the programme.

Freedom of information requests should be answered within 20 working days, but public bodies are allowed to seek extensions in certain circumstances.

The request* was submitted to both the Department for Transport (DfT) and Network Rail, but DfT left it to the public body – which owns and runs most of the country’s rail infrastructure – to respond.

DNS had asked for the annual funding allocated to Access for All for every financial year from 2017-18 to 2028-29, and how much was actually spent on the Access for All programme from 2016-17 to 2023-24.

But Network Rail said last Friday that it would need another 20 working days to respond, because of “the complexity and volume of the information requested”.

One disabled campaigner suggested it was “astounding” that Network Rail did not have such key information easily available.

DNS secured figures in 2018 through a freedom of information request that showed spending on Access for All fell from as much as £81.1 million in 2013-14 to just £14.6 million in 2017-18.

Spending in 2009-10, the last year of the last Labour government, was £53.9 million, with £41.2 million in 2010-11, £50.7 million in 2011-12, £39.7 million in 2012-13, and £81.1 million in 2013-14.

But spending then plunged over the next four years – in the first five-year planning period to begin under the coalition – with just £22.9 million in 2014-15, £24.6 million in 2015-16, £32.1 million in 2016-17 and only £14.6 million in 2017-18.

In 2019, the government announced it would spend “up to £300 million” over the next five years on Access for All, and the following year added another £50 million.

But it is not yet clear how much was actually spent from 2018-19 onwards, although the government is believed to have allocated up to another £350 million in potential funding for the five years from 2024-25.

If these are the correct figures, it will mean a significant real terms cut in funding.

Julian Vaughan, chair of Bedfordshire Rail Access Network, and a Labour parliamentary candidate in 2017 and 2019, said: “It’s very disappointing that Network Rail has been unable to provide this very basic information within a reasonable timescale and an example of the lack of clarity in the government’s approach to the railways.

“What is clear is that the current level of Access for All funding is woefully inadequate to fix the thousands of railway platforms across the UK that remain inaccessible to disabled people.”

He said the “fragmented governance structure of the UK railways” was failing disabled people.

He added: “An accessible rail network isn’t just morally the right thing to do, reducing social isolation and enabling equal access to work and leisure, it makes economic sense too.

“A future government must commit to long-term investment in an accessible rail network and involve disabled people at every stage of the process.

“The railway network will be a vital part of our drive to combat climate change.

“It’s time we set equally stringent targets for railway accessibility as we do for Net Zero.”

Tony Jennings, co-chair of a rail accessibility panel and co-founder of the Campaign for Level Boarding, said he was “astounded” that Network Rail did not have the figures “readily available”, as they were “essential for Access for All performance management and monitoring project delivery timescales”.

He also said it was vital for the next government to “significantly increase Access for All funding, as at the current rate of investment, it will take 100 years for train stations to be step-free”.

He referred to a 2022 report, by the government’s own advisers on accessible transport, the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), which concluded: “At current annual rates of investment spend on station accessibility, it will take around 100 years to make the entirety of the station estate step-free to new-build standards.”

Jennings said: “A legislative deadline is required to remove the barriers and deliver an inclusive railway that is fit for purpose in a reasonable timescale.”

The Department for Transport (DfT) declined to say if ministers had placed any pressure on Network Rail to delay the release of the figures until after the election.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “We endeavour to respond to freedom of information requests within the statutory 20 working days.

“However, in cases where the request is particularly detailed or complex, we may request an additional 20 working days under the Environmental Information Regulations, as we have done so in this case.”

She added: “The DfT has no involvement in our usual freedom of information process, which includes this case.

“Such information, as that requested, is no longer held centrally since Network Rail devolved its operating business into 14 routes contained within five regional businesses.

“This makes gathering some types of information much more complicated than was once the case.”

It is not the first time that Network Rail has found it difficult to provide prompt and accurate information about access on the railways.

Last year, it was forced into the “deeply troubling” admission that it had no idea how many inaccessible footbridges it was planning to build across Britain, while claiming it was too time-consuming and expensive to find out.

Two years ago, rail operators told a research organisation that only “major” government funding would solve the accessibility problems at stations across the country.

*Because it related to access improvements, the request was dealt with under the Environmental Information Regulations and not the Freedom of Information Act

Picture by Office of Rail and Road

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