Stoneleigh Station To Go Step-Free
This document on the Government web site is entitled Access for All: 73 Stations Set To Benefit From Additional Funding.
Stoneleigh station is on the list.
These pictures show the station and the current bridge,
By coincidence, I met the son of an old friend at the station, who lived nearby. He was able to give me a few extra details. Thanks Billy!
Abysmal Step-Free Access
I only exited the station on the Stoneleigh Broadway side and from the platform it was a two staircases up of about fifteen steps and then three similar staircases down.
- In this day and age that is totally unacceptable.
- As the station was only built in 1932, it shows the attitude of Southern Railway to passengers of reduced mobility! They are certainly not welcome!
- Billy told me, that the railway divides Stoneleigh in two and using the bridge to get across is difficult for a lot of people.
There must be very few worse step-free stations than Stoneleigh.
The Station Is Bad For Health, Environment And The Community
How many people, who live on one side of the railway and need to go to the other to see the doctor, visit the library, go to church, have a coffee with a friend or just go to a shop, are now forced to get into a car to make the trip.
Demolition Is The Only Answer
It may be a wonderful example of 1930s creative concrete construction, but for the modern age, it is complete crap!
Te station needs to be demolished and either confined to the landfill of history or turned into building blocks or other useful product.
Replacement With A Modern Bridge
The objective would be to provide a bridge, that gave step-free access to
- Station Approach on the Western side.
- The island platform.
- Stoneleigh Broadway on the Eastern side.
This Google Map shows an aerial view of the station.
Note the number of useful places on either side of the railway.
There is also a lot of space on either side of the railway.
In Winner Announced In The Network Rail Footbridge Design Ideas Competition, I wrote how the competition was won by this bridge.
So could a factory-built bridge like this be installed be installed at Stoneleigh station?
Consider.
- The bridge has been designed so it can built as a double span, so ir could serve both sides of the railway and the platform.
- The steps at the end can even be turned through ninety degrees, so that they lead into the Broadway and Approach.
- To create space, the life expired wooden buildings on the platform, that seem to be only held up, by courtesy of the woodworm holding hands, would need to be demolished.
This would allow, the new bridge to be built before closing the current monstrosity.
The station would be completed by providing a modern building on the platform, with staff and passenger facilities, that were appropriate to the million-plus passengers, who use the station every year.
Once the station is fully working, the 1930s station would be demolished.
Conclusion
Using Network Rail’s new footbridge design, a modern station could be created without closing the station to passengers and/or trains.
Stoneleigh could get a step-free modernstation i a matter of months, after planning permission was obtained.
In Syon Lane Station To Go Step-Free, I describe how Syon Lane station is getting a step-free bridge in five months.
The Anonymous Widower 
The question for me is whether Network Rail will be prepared/able to fund and maintain the lifts for the “public footpath” use of the station rather than just for passengers. (Disclaimer: I don’t know if the station is an actual public right of way.)
Somewhat uniquely, in my limited experience, this design would put the lifts as the station entrances but the existing east/west divide that the railway imposes could see them getting much more “general access” use than the stations on either side along the line. This would come at a cost and I’m not convinced it’s one the railway would be prepared to carry alone.
Motspur park will have many of the same issues but the level crossing there mitigates most of them. Stoneleigh doesn’t have that benefit and the foot tunnel down the line and round the corner is a large detour to have to take to cross the rails.
Comment by Mike F | April 4, 2021 |
There are several stations, where this public access has been maintained.
The biggest I know is Nottingham, but I have a feeling it’s also allowed at Derby.
Near me you have Hackney Downs and Hackney Central stations connected by a walkway.
I can envisage people using this walking route for shopping, leisure or business purposes, especially on a web day, as it is largely covered.
I have used it sas a walking route as it is shorter, by clocking in and out on my Freedom Pass. I wonder what I’d been charged on a credit card?
Comment by AnonW | April 4, 2021 |