St. Erth 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.
St. Erth station is on the list.
These pictures show the station and the current bridge,
Note that the bridge is only used to access trains going West to Penzance.
This Google Map shows the station.
The three tracks from the station are as follows.
- To Penzance in a South-Westerly direction.
- To Plymouth in a North-Easterly direction.
- To St. Ives in a Northerly direction.
The bridge over the main line stands out in white in the bottom-left corner of the map.
Installing The Step-Free Access
As the station is Grade II Listed care must be taken in installing the step-free access.
- The current elderly steel bridge could be replaced with a modern one with lifts. This could be too drastic for the Heritage Lobby.
- But It does look that a modern bridge could be installed towards the Eastern End of the station.
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 at St. Erth station?
This bridge has the great advantage, that it can be installed without closing the existing bridge.
St. Erth Station And The St. Ives Branch
St. Erth station is the station, where you change for the St. Ives branch.
I think this station is a good example of how we should treat our rural stations.
It was scrupulously clean and has an excellent shop and cafe. I think too, that the bridge is going to be given lifts to improve changes at the station.
The branch itself is one of the most spectacular in the UK, and my train was an immaculate Class 150. I hope that unit is in the queue for the upgrade some of its sisters have received in East Anglia.
The Cornish will certainly look after it.
The Anonymous Widower 