Why has Luton station waited 18 years for lifts?

For nearly twenty years, passengers at a city’s predominant railway station have repeatedly been promised lifts – however they’ve by no means arrived.

Travellers at Luton, named amongst England’s 10 worst stations in 2009, nonetheless face flights of stairs to achieve most platforms.

Gold medal-winning Paralympian and wheelchair person Baroness Tanni Gray-Thompson stated the 18-year wait was “ridiculous” and “utterly unacceptable”.

Community Rail acknowledged “how irritating the delays are” and apologised.

It plans to start out preparatory work within the spring however didn’t understand how lengthy the undertaking would take or how a lot it might price.

So what has the wait meant for passengers with disabilities?

Final 12 months, 3.6 million passengers used Luton – the 144th busiest station within the UK.

Karen James, 53, is unlikely to be amongst them sooner or later.

In Might, she moved away from the Bedfordshire city the place she had lived all her life, partly as a result of continued lack of lifts.

A wheelchair person since 2018, she has osteoarthritis in her again, and fibromyalgia which causes power fatigue, mind fog and dizziness.

She beforehand used the station to go to her son and 20-month-old grandson in Welwyn in neighbouring Hertfordshire.

However 4 of its 5 platforms are solely accessible by stairs, which she finds agonising and take her “eternally” to climb.

“My husband must bump down the wheelchair,” she added.

Going again up was worse than descending.

“It took me 20 minutes or so to rise up the steps and I used to be simply exhausted,” she stated.

“While you’ve obtained disabilities, you must be capable to have entry to the whole lot you want, like transport.”

Luton’s passengers had been first promised higher entry in 2006 when Labour ministers launched an Entry for All fund, promising £370m over 10 years.

Luton was among the many first 42 stations in line for a few of that funding, which the Division for Transport (DfT) stated would “typically” embody “the availability of lifts or ramps”.

Three years later, then transport secretary Lord Adonis promised a portion of a £50m enchancment fund.

In 2014, the Conservative authorities introduced Luton would share one other £100m from Entry for All, when railways minister Baroness Kramer stated the cash would “make an actual distinction to the lives of disabled passengers”.

Tasks could be “accomplished by 2019”, however work at Luton and several other different stations was postponed.

One other announcement in 2019 stated the undertaking could be re-started, with work “accomplished by the top of March 2024”.

For a lot of this era, there was an ambition to utterly rebuild the station, partly financed by means of entry funding, nevertheless it didn’t get off the bottom.

Most lately, station proprietor Community Rail stated “detailed design work” had revealed platform extensions – put in in 2010 – weren’t robust sufficient to bear the burden of the deliberate lifts.

Strengthening work is because of start subsequent spring.

Marie McCormick, 64, has dystonia, which causes muscle spasms in her higher limbs and neck, and she or he stated the state of affairs was “discriminatory”.

“Policymakers have an obligation of care to offer equality in public areas,” she stated.

She want to use trains extra for days out and hospital appointments, however stated utilizing the steps would give her “palpitations”.

Poor entry made her and others with disabilities susceptible to “isolation…. it simply exacerbates the social exclusion”.

Baroness Gray-Thompson, who crawled off a practice in London in the summertime when help didn’t arrive after 20 minutes, stated there was a “large sense of frustration” within the failure to carry ageing stations updated.

She stated Luton’s 18-year wait appeared “a ridiculous period of time”.

“When individuals see the station goes to get Entry for All funding, there may be an assumption that there is going to be fairly main change,” she stated.

“If the funding’s there and the need is there, these type of issues ought to simply occur.

“There must be some actually critical questions requested about why is it so sophisticated to do it.”

In a press release, the unbiased London TravelWatch watchdog stated implementation had been “painfully sluggish” and “extraordinarily irritating” for wheelchair customers, in addition to for passengers with buggies or heavy baggage.

“It’s one in every of [our] key priorities to make sure this programme of labor is best applied throughout the community, to make sure all stations are extra accessible,” it stated.

“We perceive the work at Luton will start subsequent spring, and look ahead to this work being accomplished with out additional delays.”

Luton South and South Bedfordshire Labour MP Rachel Hopkins stated she had heard “varied causes” for the delays.

“It was pushed from one finances interval to the subsequent finances interval, then it was Covid, then it was all of the designs, then it was ‘we’re making an attempt to start out, however we discovered some issues’,” she stated.

She stated Community Rail “is not project-managing it correctly sufficient”.

“For them to maintain delaying – I do not assume it is acceptable.”

Station operator Govia Thameslink stated it needed lifts put in “as quickly as doable” and was supporting Community Rail.

Station workers, it added, would assist passengers and organize different transport to Luton Airport Parkway for these unable to handle stairs.

Since Entry for All launched, step-free accessible routes have been constructed at greater than 250 stations.

Gavin Criminal, principal programme sponsor for Community Rail’s East Midlands route, stated: “We’re dedicated to offering entry enhancements at Luton station and are sorry that is taking longer that we want.”

A DfT spokesperson stated: “Everybody ought to be capable to journey with ease and confidence, which is why this authorities is dedicated to bettering the accessibility of our railways.

“Whereas earlier plans for enhancements at Luton station had been delayed on the time on account of design challenges, Community Rail is now accountable for the works, that are progressing.”