Greater Manchester wheelchair access at stations

[Gathursty]

Link - http://www.itv.com/news/granada/upd...-have-to-access-for-people-using-wheelchairs/

An investigation by Granada Reports has revealed the alarming number of railway stations with no access for people using wheelchairs.

Of the 96 stations in the whole of Greater Manchester, fewer than half have facilities allowing someone in a wheelchair to get to the platform.

Sadly this will be all too familiar to disabled people all over our region. The Mayor of Greater Manchester wants new powers from the Government to bring all stations in his area up to scratch.

Meanwhile travelling by train remains a daily struggle for many disabled people.

I watched this on the TV earlier this evening. I'm a bit shocked that the number is so high. I'm also at a loss to think how much could be done with so little available money.

I'm left to think which stations it is practical to fit a ramp in without much disruption and also which stations to prioritise in Greater Manchester (Ardwick last!)

What could be done relatively quickly and cheaply to sort out some stations in the GM area in the meantime? What has been done in your area to address this problem? What's your thoughts on this inaccessible stations?

 

[TBirdFrank]

Hire a bloody taxi - you can get an awful lot of taxi hires for three quarters of a million pounds - the average cost of a footbridge or lift.

What these people want is a seamless journey and this is the most cost effective way of doing it from most local wheelchair accessible railheads.

 

[WatcherZero]

A lot of stations were built on embankments or in cuttings and so require steps. The local issue is that many of the cutting sides are too steep for ramps. Its hardly a secret though as TfGM have been including the access figure in pretty much all their rail infrastructure reports for a decade alongside spending the Northern community improvement grants on rectifying it though the cost of each conversion is huge so you can only afford 1 a year and all the easy conversions have been done already.

44% have a 1/12 ramp or better access. Though the new Dft standard is that disabled ramps have to be 1/20. Mills Hill Road currently has funding for a disabled ramp, there isn't any identified funding for any other stations.

Altrincham Accessible Horwich Parkway Accessible Appley Bridge Not Accessible Humphrey Park Accessible Ardwick Not Accessible Hyde Central Not Accessible Ashburys Not Accessible Hyde North Not Accessible Ashton-under-Lyne Accessible Ince Not Accessible Atherton Accessible Irlam Not Accessible Belle Vue Not Accessible Kearsley Not Accessible Blackrod Accessible Levenshulme Not Accessible Bolton Accessible Littleborough Accessible Bramhall Not Accessible Lostock Not Accessible Bredbury Not Accessible Manchester Airport Accessible Brinnington Not Accessible Manchester Oxford Road (not Plat 1) Accessible Broadbottom Not Accessible Manchester Piccadilly Accessible Bromley Cross Not Accessible Manchester Victoria Accessible Bryn Not Accessible Marple Accessible Burnage Accessible Mauldeth Road Accessible Castleton Accessible Middlewood Not Accessible Chassen Road Accessible Mills Hill Not Accessible Cheadle Hulme Accessible Moorside Not Accessible Clifton Accessible Moses Gate Not Accessible Daisy Hill Not Accessible Mossley (GM) Not Accessible Davenport Not Accessible Moston Accessible Deansgate Accessible Navigation Road Accessible Denton Not Accessible Newton for Hyde Not Accessible Dinting Accessible Orrell Not Accessible East Didsbury Accessible Patricroft Not Accessible Eccles Not Accessible Pemberton Not Accessible Fairfield Not Accessible Reddish North Not Accessible Farnworth Not Accessible Reddish South Not Accessible Flixton Accessible Rochdale Accessible Flowery Field Not Accessible Romiley Not Accessible Gathurst Not Accessible Rose Hill (Marple) Accessible Gatley Accessible Ryder Brow Not Accessible Glazebrook Accessible Salford Central Accessible Glossop Accessible Salford Crescent Accessible Godley Not Accessible Smithy Bridge Accessible Gorton Not Accessible Stalybridge Accessible Greenfield Not Accessible Stockport Accessible Guide Bridge Accessible Strines Not Accessible Hadfield Accessible Swinton (GM) Not Accessible Hag Fold Not Accessible Trafford Park Not Accessible Hale Accessible Urmston Accessible Hall I' th' Wood Not Accessible Walkden Not Accessible Hattersley Not Accessible Westhoughton Not Accessible Hazel Grove Accessible Wigan North Western Accessible Heald Green Not Accessible Wigan Wallgate Accessible Heaton Chapel Not Accessible Woodley Not Accessible Hindley Not Accessible Woodsmoor Not Accessible

The local authority priority list drawn up in 2010 based on highest footfall
1. Blackrod (completed winter 2012)
2. Mills Hill (designs underway)
3. Appley Bridge
4. Walkden
5. Irlam
6. Hindley
7. Newton for Hyde
8. Daisy Hill
9. Broadbottom
10. Swinton

 

[Ianno87]

Lostock (re-opened 1988) does have ramped access to both platforms, but I think the gradients involved (ramp on the Down side, road pavement on the Up side) would not be compliant today.

Would be interesting to do a county-by-county comparison of station accessibilty. I would imagine London not faring any better than "less than half", especially if the tube is included. For example, not a single station on the Chessington South branch is accessible.

Manchester also has Metrolink, fully accessible from Day 1...

 

[scrapy]

Lostock (re-opened 1988) does have ramped access to both platforms, but I think the gradients involved (ramp on the Down side, road pavement on the Up side) would not be compliant today.

Would be interesting to do a county-by-county comparison of station accessibilty. I would imagine London not faring any better than "less than half", especially if the tube is included. For example, not a single station on the Chessington South branch is accessible.

Manchester also has Metrolink, fully accessible from Day 1...

Quite a few on that list state not accessible but in reality are used by wheelchair users on a regular basis they just don't meet current standards. Not sure what the source of this list is.

Hag Fold, Heaton Chapel, Appley Bridge, Bramhall, Moses Gate and Pemberton are all step free but the ramps are probably too steep to meet standards.

Farnworth and Gorton definitely do meet current standards so should be shown as accessible.

Whilst the platforms at Salford Central are accessible the platform is too low for boarding ramps to be used so should be shown as not accessible as wheelchair users cannot reasonably board a train.

In my opinion Appley Bridge should be lower down the priority list because

1) many people using wheelchairs can already use it as it has level access where as they cannot use Walkden which is step only or others lower down the list.

2) footfall is probably based on ticket sales and as it is a GM boundary station many people buy tickets from it but don't board or alight.

 

[coxxy]

Mills hill will need more than a ramp surely..

The exit from down platform is a large number of steep steps, just making it a ramp would be pretty steep to get up/down. Surely would need a whole new exit put in.

 

[Starmill]

A number of stations have had lifts installed in the past few years, at vast cost. These include Altrincham, Cheadle Hulme and Manchester Oxford Road.

Access has also been improved significantly at Farnworth and Moses Gate so it should meet current standards now. Blackrod also had the modifications some time ago, as mentioned.

It's not really enough in the big picture though.

 

[Bwlch y Groes]

I did some work on the accessibility of our stations in September and it shocked me at just how many weren't accessible - particularly when it reaches a station like Oxford Road which technically doesn't have step-free access because we don't have a lift to P1. The problem is there are very few votes in it, so politicians would rather sink their money into prestige projects - you could probably make tens of stations accessible for the cost of one new station but you all know which a Transport Secretary would rather back financially. Disabled people get such a raw deal from this - it's one of the major failings of the industry

 

[edwin_m]

Rather surprisingly, lifts don't cost much more than ramps to build, though they cost more to maintain and to respond to faults. They are also much easier to fit into a station, particularly if it has canopies and other buildings that would get in the way of a ramp.

There is actually quite a bit of money being spent nationwide on improving station accessibility. While the needs of wheelchair users determine what level of provision is necessary, it does also help people with lesser disabilities, with infants in pushchairs and even the ubiquitous wheelie suitcases.

 

[scrapy]

A number of stations have had lifts installed in the past few years, at vast cost. These include Altrincham, Cheadle Hulme and Manchester Oxford Road.

Access has also been improved significantly at Farnworth and Moses Gate so it should meet current standards now. Blackrod also had the modifications some time ago, as mentioned.

It's not really enough in the big picture though.

Farnworth was rebuilt to current standards as was the Manchester bound platform at Moses Gate however the upper half of the ramp on the Bolton bound platform at Moses Gate is too steep (This part was not rebuilt). The cost of doing it properly would have been minimal at the time in comparison to what it will cost now to put it right. Space is not an issue there is plenty of unused railway owned land behind the platform.