Herne Bay station gets £6m accessibility boost

A railway station in Kent has been made more accessible after £6m of improvements were carried out.

Herne Bay now has two new lifts, each capable of carrying up to 16 people.

The work, which was finished in March, took 16 months to complete, with both platforms now having step-free access to the main entrance.

Network Rail said it was planning similar work at other stations across the region, in partnership with the Department for Transport's Access for All scheme.

David Davidson, Network Rail's Kent route director, said: "We want our railway to be as inclusive as possible and Access for All is opening up travel by rail to more and more people.

"Herne Bay is just the latest station to be completed with more to come across our network over the next few years.

"Work has also started on a major scheme at Hither Green, and another project at Shortlands is set to be completed in the coming weeks."

Steve White, Southeastern Railway's managing director, said: "This scheme supports the strong increase in the number of passengers with accessibility needs choosing rail travel.

"Encouragingly, the majority are now travelling as turn-up-and-go customers, without needing to pre-arrange assistance.

"To provide easier access from platform to train, we are also working to replace our ageing Metro trains with a more modern and accessible fleet."

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