Listen
Rail station improvements
29/12/2011
Rail users at a further five stations across Scotland are to benefit from improved accessibility as part of a £41m investment.
The Department for Transport and Transport Scotland announced today that Dyce, Shotts, Newton, Rosyth and Dunblane railway stations have all been earmarked for investment in the latest round of the Government's £370 million Access for All funding scheme.
Funding of around £9.5 million will be split between the five stations and will pay for improvements aimed at making the railway more accessible to disabled people and other passengers with impaired mobility such as parents pushing prams.
The improvements will be confirmed following Network Rail feasibility studies on each of the five stations over the coming months, but could include aspects such as lifts, step-free access to platforms and more disabled parking.
At Dunblane, Transport Minister Keith Brown said:
"An efficient railway is essential in connecting communities and allowing people to access education, employment and leisure opportunities.
"It is therefore important that we make the railway in Scotland accessible to everyone and I look forward to seeing the improvements which passengers using Dunblane, Dyce, Newton, Rosyth and Shotts stations are to benefit from."
Westminster Transport Minister Norman Baker said:
"Mothers with prams, the elderly and wheelchair users should not have to struggle through some older railway stations as if they were daunting and exhausting assault courses.
"That is precisely why we are announcing this major new investment in five stations where passengers will see dramatically improved access so that Britain's railways really are open to everyone."
Steve Montgomery, managing director of ScotRail, said:
"This is a welcome investment that will make it much easier for customers to access these stations in future."