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Friday 22 Sep 2023

Dumfries station accessibility project gets the green light

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Planning Applications Committee has approved Listed Building Consent for access improvements to Dumfries station.

Plans will see the construction of a new footbridge with lifts allowing step-free access to both station platforms.

The application for listed building consent was submitted in June following an engagement event with the community to showcase the proposed designs.

Dumfries station is a category B listed building, and the designs were developed to be sympathetic to the look and feel of its historic character.

Karen McChesney, Network Rail’s town planning lead for the accessibility work at Dumfries station said: “We are delighted to have the Listed Building Consent approved by Dumfries and Galloway Council.

“This project will deliver modern standards of access for those travelling to or from Dumfries and will improve the travelling experience for passengers.

“The new bridge and lifts will help everyone in the community access services at Dumfries station easily as part of our efforts to enable even more people to travel by train.

“Delivering step-free access at stations to open up our network is one important way in which we are improving the overall experience of travelling on Scotland’s railway”.

“Network Rail would like to thank council planning officials and the Planning Applications Committee for supporting this important accessibility project and we look forward to the works starting at the station in the not-too-distant future.”

Following a consultation response from Historic Environment Scotland, the original design has been slightly updated to take their recommendations on board. A gentle curve to the bridge has been introduced by lifting the deck 200mm in the middle and the lift towers will now have a mid-grey cladding panel which is slightly darker than the original colour. 

To better accommodate motorised scooters the internal dimensions of the lift tower have been changed to make them less square.

Works are due to commence in late October with the completion of the works in Summer 2024.