Harrow-on-the-Hill Underground station on the Metropolitan line has become step-free, helping customers with reduced mobility to access the station and the wider Transport for London (TfL) network.
Four new lifts have been installed at Harrow-on-the-Hill station, providing a step-free route between the street and Metropolitan line trains. In addition, station signage has been enhanced to assist with wayfinding. Boarding ramps will continue to support customers boarding or alighting Chiltern trains, and with TfL’s Turn-up-and-go service, staff will be on hand to assist customers if required.
With the completion of step-free access schemes on the wider TfL network, the average additional journey time required for step-free journeys has now been reduced to around 6.7 minutes. This compares to 9.5 minutes in 2016, meaning significant progress has been taken towards the Mayor of London’s aim of halving 2015’s additional journey time of 11 minutes by 2041. Without long-term capital funding from Government, TfL will not be able to make further progress on delivering step-free stations across its network, which will mean disabled people will continue to have to take longer journeys to travel in an accessible way.
The completion of the step-free scheme at Harrow-on-the-Hill increases the total number of step-free London Underground stations to 91, meaning that one third of the 272 stations on the Tube network are now step-free – a 33 per cent increase since 2016, when Sadiq Khan was first elected as Mayor of London.
In 2021, step-free access schemes were completed at Sudbury Hill (in December), Osterley (in October), Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms on the Northern Line Extension (in September), Wimbledon Park (in August), Ickenham (in June), Debden (in April) and Amersham (in February). In addition, Ealing Broadway was made step-free in May 2021 in preparation for the Elizabeth line, and Whitechapel became step-free when the original station entrance on Whitechapel Road re-opened in August 2021.
This year, TfL will complete a range of step-free projects that are currently under construction and began prior to the pandemic. These include step-free access to the Northern line at Moorgate, which became step-free to the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines last year. TfL is also progressing step-free access work that will make busy Zone 1 stations partially step-free in 2022. These are at Bank (Northern line and DLR Interchange only) and Paddington (Bakerloo line only). The current proposed designs for the redeveloped Euston station as part of High Speed 2 will also deliver step-free improvements to Euston and Euston Square station.
TfL is currently reviewing the results of its recent public consultation to help shape future step-free access priorities, with final outcomes of the consultation communicated in the summer. However, a ‘managed decline’ scenario would mean that without sufficient long-term capital funding from Government, further improvements to step-free access at stations across London – outside of those already underway or funded by third parties – would be impacted. Such investment is essential to future accessibility improvements and to ensuring an efficient and reliable public transport service for all Londoners.
This was a long fought campaign by previous London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow Navin Shah and was one of the schemes cancelled by the previous Mayor of London Boris Johnson.