Examination of Witnesses (Questions 445
- 459)
Ordered: that Counsel and Parties be called in.
445. CHAIRMAN: Good morning to you all.
Ms Lieven, are you going to present the case on immobility/disability?
Promoters presentation on people with
reduced mobility
446. MS LIEVEN: I am, my Lords, yes. This
morning, my Lords, we are dealing with the petition of the London
Borough of Newham. Newham raise points about the provision of
step-free access at two stations within their borough Manor Park
and Maryland.
447. CHAIRMAN: Maryland on the Docklands
Light Railway Line?
448. MS LIEVEN: No, my Lords, they are
both on the north-eastern line. I will put up a route plan in
a moment to show you.
449. CHAIRMAN: Is this a generic point?
450. MS LIEVEN: No, my Lords. The way
we are going to deal with this is we are going to have a generic
presentation on the Crossrail approach to people with restricted
mobility, which is often called PRMs but I will try and drop the
acronym and stick to "people with restricted mobility".
Dr Alice Maynard, who is sitting to my left over there, is going
to give that presentation. Then we are going to deal with the
site specifics of the two stations that the London Borough of
Newham are concerned with. I think it is important that the Committee
understands the overarching policy approach on Crossrail before
you come down to looking at the issues around the two specific
stations. What I was proposing to do—and then I will later
in the morning or day call Mr Berryman to give evidence on the
engineering and transport issues around the provision on the two
specific stations—was to give a brief outline on the generic
position in opening, then touch on the factual issues around the
two stations, and then hand over to Dr Maynard to give a presentation,
if that course is acceptable to the Committee.
451. CHAIRMAN: It seems to be very sensible.
452. MS LIEVEN: If I can start by opening
briefly on Crossrail's approach to people with restricted mobility.
We have produced an Information Paper, E5—and perhaps we
can flash up the front page of it—which presents Crossrail's
position on this topic.[1]
All I am going to do is take the headlines or highlights out of
that document to explain it to the Committee.[2]
The Crossrail project overall involves a very significant improvement
in accessibility to key locations in London. There are 28 stations
now on the Crossrail route, including all the central stations,
which will be made step-free from street to platform. Approximately
93 per cent of all passenger trips on Crossrail will start and
end at a station with step-free access. E5 sets out the position.
453. Perhaps if we turn to the second page of
E5, it is worth highlighting to the Committee that when the Bill
was first introduced, there were five fewer stations being upgraded
to full accessibility. In the course of the Commons we gave further
consideration to the matter and put forward four more stations—Forest
Gate, Goodmayes, Gidea Park and Harold Wood—all on the north-east
section to be upgraded to full accessibility. There was one other
additional station, Chadwell Heath, which is now being made fully
accessible under the Department for Transport `Access for All'
scheme.
454. Very briefly, the criteria that we have
used to decide whether stations should be upgraded in this way
or not consist of three factors: the number of passengers; the
capital cost of the upgrade; and the ease of access to alternative
fully accessible stations. When we are dealing with the third
of those criteria, the ease of access, it is important to remember
that that is not just a function of distance, because although
some people with restricted mobility will be getting to the station
in question under their own steam, as it were, whether it is by
electric wheelchair or pushing a buggy, or whatever, there will
be many people who will be getting to the station in any event
on a bus or a taxi or by Dial-a-Ride service, so it is not a simple
function of how far it is and issues such as bus routes become
critical in this respect.
455. The next issue on the overall approach
is that of interchanges. At Annex 2 of document E5, we set out
a full list of all the Crossrail works and accessibility provisions
by station.[3]
The approach here is to provide fully accessible interchange wherever
reasonably practicable. I am sure it is obvious to the Committee,
who will be familiar with the London Underground network, that
there are huge difficulties at some London Underground stations
in putting in step-free access. I do not intend to go through
all this because in the main I think the local authorities are
content with the approach we have taken and the specifics we have
taken, but there are some London Underground interchanges where
it is extremely difficult, in engineering terms, to provide a
fully accessible interchange, and Dr Maynard will refer to some
of those when giving her presentation.
456. There is a vast improvement in the interchange
network thanks to Crossrail, but you will have seen already from
looking at the fourth column that there are some places where
we have said no, we cannot provide an interchange. The one that
springs to mind on that page is the Bakerloo Line at Paddington
where we have made passive provision for a step-free interchange,
but whether or not it can ever be fully provided obviously will
depend on future LUL improvements.
457. The next issue I ought to touch on is platform-to-train
accessibility. It is all very well to get people with restricted
mobility from the street down to the platform, but again members
of the Committee who are familiar with the rail network will know
that it can be quite a large issue getting from the platform onto
the train. In the central section there will be completely level
step-free interchange between the platform and onto the train,
so there is no issue in the central section. In the outer limbs,
where there is shared working with overground Network Rail services,
Crossrail is committed to ensuring that step-free onto the trains
will be achieved, but the precise design solution to that has
not yet been settled on, and Mr Berryman can give more evidence
on that if the Committee wants to hear about it. There are various
different possibilities and we are still working on what is the
best one. The issue in the outer limb is that the platforms have
to allow freight services to get past. That means it is not possible
to give completely level access between Crossrail and the platforms
because if you did that you would stop the freight trains getting
past, so that is obviously not possible.
458. CHAIRMAN: That is clearance, is
it?
459. MS LIEVEN: Clearance, that is absolutely
right. Then the final issue I wanted to touch on from the IP is
the train facilities themselves once you are on the trains, and
these are governed by the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations
1998. Trains will all provide dedicated spaces for wheelchair
users so they will be fully accessible. That is a very brief summary
of what we set out in Information Paper E5. Obviously the Committee
has it in front of them, and if there are any questions on that
Mr Berryman will be giving evidence later, and indeed Dr Maynard
on the generics.
1 Crossrail Information Paper E5-Provisions for People
with Reduced Mobility, billdocuments.crossrail.co.uk (LINEWD-IPE5-001) Back
2
Crossrail Information Paper E5-Provisions for People with Reduced
Mobility, p1, billdocuments.crossrail.co.uk (LINEWD-IPE5-002) Back
3
Crossrail Information Paper E5-Provisions for People with Reduced
Mobility, Annex 2, Proposed Crossrail Works and Accessibility
by Station, billdocuments.crossrail.co.uk (LINEWD-IPE5-005) Back
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