Confirmation from the minister responsible that the Trasnpennine Route Upgrade will make all stations along the route, including Marsden, fully accessible. [with the caveat that everything in the Integrated Rail Plan is “subject to approval”, para 5.3, page 142 of the report]
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)
Can the Minister confirm that there is lots of good news in the integrated rail plan for my constituents who use Huddersfield station, Slaithwaite station and Marsden station on the trans-Pennine route? I thank the Minister for visiting Marsden last year with local rail campaigners, and will he confirm that we can get investment in disabled access at Marsden railway station as well?
Andrew Stephenson (The Minister of State, Department for Transport)
I am happy to confirm that, as part of the trans-Pennine route upgrade, every single station in my hon. Friend’s constituency will see massive investment, including to make them all fully accessible to disabled passengers.
Filling in some of the details will be critical in building public confidence that this time it will actually happen.
Provision of full disabled access is good news. Given the on/off nature of the commitment to disabled access over recent years, there is bound to be some scepticism as when and whether it will happen. This is entirely understandable given that we thought it had been approved in 2011, and it turned out that it hadn’t.
The process now needs to move on from the commitment being made to involving the community in discussions as to how it is to be done and how it can be used as a catalyst for regeneration.