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Tuesday 24 Jul 2012

THREE MORE LONDON OVERGROUND STATIONS BECOME STEP-FREE

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

Station improvements to make three stations on one of London’s main Olympic rail routes more accessible before the Olympics and Paralympic Games have been completed.

Camden Road and Gospel Oak stations now have two new lifts, to carry passengers between street level and the platforms. At Hackney Central, two new lifts have been installed from the existing footbridge.

All three projects have been funded by the Department for Transport's Access for All programme, which aims to make travelling by train easier for everyone, especially those with reduced mobility, those with young children or people with heavy luggage.

Dave Ward, Network Rail’s route managing director, said: “'The improvements made at these three stations will make them accessible for all and is part of a wider programme to build a bigger, better railway. Thousands of spectators travelling on this line will reap the benefits of these improvements during the Games and for years to come."

Transport for London’s chief operating officer for rail, Howard Smith, said: “Making these three stations accessible for all is a huge contribution from the Access for All programme to TfL’s plan to make all of the capital’s transport network easier to use.

“TfL has invested hundreds of millions of pounds in network accessibility in the last few years. By the time the London Olympic and Paralympic Games start 66 Tube stations will be step free, as will 38* London Overground stations, all DLR stations and all stops on London Tramlink.

“On the Tube, the money has funded new lifts, trains, platform humps, wide-aisle gates, tactile paving and audio and visual displays. Another 16 Tube stations will also have temporary measures installed to make them step-free during the London 2012 Games.”