New Access for Farnborough Station

Work to make Farborough Station fully accessible and help disabled commuters to London will begin this summer.  The announcement comes after twenty years of campaigning by politicians and residents.

The station currently has only a standard footbridge and steps linking different platforms meaning access, especially for those in wheelchairs, is virtually impossible.

Planning permission has now been given for a new bridge with elevators on either side.  Work on the new bridge will begin once refurbishment of the forecourt and car park, being undertaken by South West Trains and Hampshire County Council, is completed in May.

Patricia Devereux, a former Farnborough South councillor, began lobbying British Rail for the change nearly 20 years ago, when a disabled resident complained.

She explains: “I was contacted by a resident, who told me that if he wanted to get a train to London he had to go to Basingstoke or Fleet.  I spoke to my fellow councillors and we decided it was something we should have.  So we  pretty much campaigned for it.  We got within three weeks of the work starting but then British Rail changed its name to Network Rail and we went back to square one then.

“When I heard that planning permission had been given, I thought, well it’s about time.”

The bridge is part of Network Rail’s access for all scheme, in which it will adapt 140 stations at a cost of £370m to make them more accessible.

Farnborough Main is in the group of stations due to have accessibility work completed by the end of 2011.