NETWORK Rail has announced it hopes to start work on installing three lifts at Barnt Green station this autumn.
The work, expected to be complete by summer 2024, will provide passengers with step-free access to all platforms at the rail station for the first time in its history.
A Network Rail spokesperson said its project team was working hard on the final designs for the lifts, adding the ‘transformative upgrade would greatly improve accessibility at this important Cross-City line station.’
Network Rail had previously notified Barnt Green Parish Council it had been given the authority to proceed with lift installation.
Back in February 2019, Dylan Cummings, who requires a wheelchair to get around, told the Standard he felt ‘embarrassed’ after having to shuffle up and down stairs to cross the footbridge at Barnt Green railway station trying to catch a train home due to its lack of accessible entrances.
He arrived at the station around five minutes before the train was due to arrive but found that he was unable to get access to platform three without the use of stairs, missing two trains attempting to get onto the platform.
Dylan said it would have been over five years since his incident by the time the works were completed and thought something could have been done much quicker to make the station more accessible.
“When I shared what had happened on social media there was a lot of outrage from my friends especially other people with disabilities who couldn’t believe there were so many barriers to access at a public railway station at that time.”
At the time of Dylan’s incident, a Network Rail spokesperson said a plan was being worked on to improve access at Barnt Green to all platforms and trains, with lifts as part of the upgrade but for them to be installed, a wider package of improvements was needed and funding would need to be secured.
