Work to build a more inclusive and accessible rail network in Greater Manchester will see twice as many rail stations becoming step-free in the next three years than in the preceding decade.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has today signed off £34m for improvements to rail stations across the city region ahead of eight lines being brought into the Bee Network by 2028.
This includes money for accessibility improvements at Levenshulme and detailed designs to be done for step-free access at Davenport (Stockport), Hall i’th Wood (Bolton), Moorside (Oldham) and Woodsmoor (Stockport) so that, when further funding is secured, works can quickly get under way.
Currently fewer than half of Greater Manchester’s stepped stations (43%) are accessible.
Using funding from the government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) and the DfT’s Access for All scheme, a rolling programme of upgrades will result in 63% of Greater Manchester becoming fully accessible by March 2028.
Compared to the previous decade – where only a handful of stations were made accessible – this represents a significant step change and is all part of the joined-up, step-by-step plan to integrate rail into the Bee Network, alongside bus and tram and active travel.
Work to install lifts at Daisy Hill and Irlam is due to complete this spring, while step-free access schemes at Swinton, Hindley, Bryn and Reddish North are all scheduled for delivery next year.
Accessibility improvements at Flowery Field, Newton for Hyde and Bredbury are set for completion in 2027, with Levenshulme to follow in 2028.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:
“It’s really important that anyone can use the Bee Network, regardless of how, where or when they are travelling.
“At the moment too many train stations in Greater Manchester are inaccessible, but we are moving at pace to tackle this alongside industry partners under phase two of the Bee Network – and our plans to improve rail services and stations across the city-region.
“Disability or mobility issues should never be a barrier to travel, and in the next three years we will deliver step-free access at ten stations – twice as many as in the past decade – and I am pleased that Levenshulme will be amongst them. “
