Ministers urged to act for an accessible Crossrail
Transport for All
Last year, disabled and older people campaigned..
Last year, disabled and older people campaigned vociferously for full stepfree access on Crossrail. Now, as the Government prepares to publish a report on the feasibility of making Crossrail stepfree, we’re taking action again to demand a Crossrail that we can ALL use.
The new rail line, opening fully in 2018, has seven stations planned without stepfree access, leaving them out of bounds to anyone with a mobility impairment. Responding to the outrage that this new line, costing £15bn, will not be fully accessible, Boris Johnson, Mayor of London and Chair of TfL, said that the stations “have never had step-free access in history, but we are going to do it“.
The joint sponsors of Crossrail, TfL and Department for Transport, also commissioned a feasibility report to look at the costs and practicalities of making Crossrail stepfree. The report is now completed and is expected to be published shortly.
As the figures on the cost of making Crossrail stepfree go public, Transport for All activists say what an accessible Crossrail would mean to them.
On Twitter? Check out #accessibleCrossrail, and tweet what an #accessibleCrossrail would mean to you! If you’d like to tweet a picture of yourself holding an #accessibleCrossrail poster, you can download it here.
The Government’s own target is for disabled people to have access to transport on an equal basis with others by 2025. A new railway opening in 2018 with full access to disabled people would be a railway that Britain could be proud of. A railway open to all. The alternative, just a few years after we heard so much about an Paralympic legacy of equality and inclusion for disabled people, would be shaming.
TfL have stated: Transport for London and the Department of Transport (the joint Sponsors of the Crossrail Project), aim to make the whole Crossrail route accessible. Step free access will be provided at 33 of the 40 stations and work is also underway to look at practical solutions and funding options for the remaining seven of which four are in the GLA area (Hanwell, Maryland, Manor Park and Seven Kings).
What does an accessible Crossrail means to me? We already received lots of answers on Twitter. Here are some of them:”
