The latest railway station to have step-free access funded by the Department for Transport’s (DfT) ‘Access for All’ scheme is Petts Wood in South London.

In a £10.79m programme of accessibility improvements that started in May 2022, Network Rail installed four new lifts: one serving the station ticket office, two on the station’s island platforms, and one at the Western Approach entrance.

Network Rail also extended the island platform to make space for the lifts and installed new CCTV security cameras.

With the new lifts now fully open, it will be easier for passengers with limited mobility, visual impairments, or travelling with pushchairs, bicycles or luggage to move around the station without needing to use the stairs.

Further work is still taking place at the station to upgrade the toilets and improve and provide step-free access to the waiting room on platforms three and four.

An additional customer information display will also be installed at each entrance to the new footbridge.

Other Southeastern stations recently made fully accessible are Chatham and Catford, that were completed last year, Plumstead and Bexley planned for this year, and Shortlands and Herne Bay, which are planned for next year.

I’m delighted we’ve completed accessibility upgrades at Petts Wood, making this another fully accessible station for the benefit of our customers.

We’re committed to making the railway people’s preferred choice of sustainable travel and making it easy and accessible for all rail users is critical to achieving this.

We welcome the continued investment from the DfT and are continuing to work hard at other stations in south east London and Kent to make them step-free with Plumstead station and Bexley station both expected to be complete later this year.

Kate Warner, Network Rail’s Southern region business development and sponsorship director

We want to deliver better journeys and make the railway open for everyone, so it’s great to see another of our stations is now fully step-free.

To complement the work by our partners at Network Rail we are upgrading two toilets and a waiting room to make them more accessible and welcoming for customers as well as adding new travel information screens too. We believe these improvements will be welcomed by our customers and we look forward to opening the further facilities very soon.

Southeastern’s General Manager North, Sonia Maulson

I’m delighted that residents in Petts Wood can benefit from this important upgrade. The lifts and island platform extension will make journeys more convenient and assist a range of passengers, from those with mobility concerns; families travelling with young children; to those with heavy luggage. I particularly welcome that new CCTV cameras will help ensure safety on site.

This is the second major project for our area made possible by government investment under the Access for All Scheme, with a combined £15m award for Petts Wood and St Mary Cray stations.

My thanks to the Network Rail team for delivering this improvement for constituents, and to my predecessor Lord Jo Johnson who campaigned to secure funding. I’ll continue to work in residents’ interests so that Orpington’s public transport system gets the attention it requires.

Gareth Bacon, MP for Orpington