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It’s about time all London stations had step-free access. And while we might be a way off from achieving that milestone, we are slowly making some progress. Streatham station in south London now has step-free access to all platforms. We’ll take that as a win.
Undergoing a £5 million makeover, the south London station now has two lifts connecting the ticket hall with the platforms. Passengers who use wheelchairs, have pushchairs, bicycles or luggage will now be able to make it to their trains with ease, without having to navigate stairs.
In the New Year, Streatham station is expected to glow up even more, with new wide-access gates and a newly decorated concourse and overbridge.
This was all funded by the Department for Transport's (DfT) ‘Access for All’ scheme, which aims to make obstacle-free accessible routes from station entrances to platforms.
Hodan Hassan, Network Rail’s commercial scheme sponsor, said: ‘We’re delighted to have completed work on the Access for All scheme at Streatham station, which now provides passengers with step-free access to both platforms and generally a more pleasant experience when travelling by train.
‘We welcome the continued investment from the DfT to support us in making even more stations fully accessible and we have a number of other stations across our Southern region that are currently being upgraded or about to benefit from accessibility improvements in the coming months.
‘We would like to thank passengers and local residents for their patience and understanding while we carried out this work and we hope passengers enjoy this newly upgraded station.’
Streatham’s is just one of London’s many stations getting some well-needed TLC this winter. Did you see that London Bridge station is finally getting more public toilets? Over on the Elizabeth line, four stations now have mobile coverage. Meanwhile, all of London’s trams are getting replaced.
Did you see that Paddington station will close for four days over Christmas?
Listen to Time Out’s brilliant podcast ‘Love Thy Neighbourhood’: the Christmas special with Paloma Faith in the East End is out now.
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