Later this month, Liverpool‘s local political leaders will vote on approving £9.5m of funding for new lifts at two railway stations in the City Region.

Mayor Steve Rotheram has set a target to make the city region’s rail network step-free by 2030, and the Inaccessible Stations Programme is a key part of achieving this.

If November’s Combined Authority votes for the plan, then work to install the lifts will start at Aigburth (Liverpool) and Rock Ferry (Wirral) stations in the new year.

The other aspect of achieving the 2030 target is using sliding step technology, which allows passengers to board trains on a level. The technology will be installed on the region’s new publicly-owned fleet of trains, which cost five hundred million pounds.

The City Region Combined Authority believes that achieving the 2030 target will make Liverpool “home to the country’s most passenger friendly and accessible rail network”.

The work is being funded through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), which has created a pot of £710m set for major transport infrastructure projects in Liverpool City Region.

The Department of Transport’s Access for All scheme confirmed matched funding for lifts at four stations earlier this year. While the proposal to be voted on this month covers Aigburth and Rock Ferry, plans for Port Sunlight and Walton are still in the design phase.

When the work is completed, sixty-six of Liverpool’s stations will have step-free access from pavement to platform, so further work will be needed to make the remaining seventeen accessible. Formby, Birkenhead North, Orrell Park, Meols, Birkenhead Park, Hunts Cross, Hillside and St Michael’s stations have already had new lifts opened.

The Authority also points out that it is making other investments in improving the rail network. These include buying more than one hundred zero-emission double-decker electric buses, a transport interchange in St Helens town centre, the first new Mersey Ferry in over sixty years and building the new Liverpool Baltic station.

“For too long, our local rail network has not been designed around the needs of those who rely on it the most, leaving some of the most vulnerable in our communities cut off from their local stations.

“We have already made great progress with level-boarding on our new £500m trains and now we want to make sure all our stations are accessible to all too. This funding will help us continue our journey towards that aim.”

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region