Work on station upgrade starts

Work is underway to install new lifts and a footbridge at Kidsgrove station to ensure it’s accessible for everyone by spring 2019.

Network Rail has started work on the £5 million Kidsgrove ‘Access for All’ upgrade, which will transform the way passengers with all mobility needs use the railway. The vital upgrade will install three new lifts at either side of platforms 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as a brand new footbridge linking the platforms.

Campaigners have been calling for improvements to access for nearly 20 years as the only step-free access is to the Manchester-to-Stoke platform (1). Trains to and from Crewe, and to Manchester, can only be accessed via the existing footbridge, making things difficult for people in wheelchairs, those with limited mobility and parents with pushchairs.

The investment has come directly from the Department for Transport’s ‘Access for All’ programme, which was launched in 2006 to improve accessibility at railway stations nationwide, and forms part of our five-year, multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, which is the biggest investment in the railway since the Victorian era.

This programme of work will not be disruptive to travel, but the station will look and feel different whilst the work is being carried out.

Luke Jones, Network Rail scheme project manager, said: “This upgrade will unlock the railway network for many people in Kidsgrove, allowing them easy access to travel that was previously not possible.

“We are working closely with the station operator, East Midland Trains, to ensure our work brings as little disruption as possible to passengers at the station, which will only be until late spring 2019.”