Lifts to be installed at 'inaccessible' Flitwick station

Three lifts and a new bridge will be installed at Flitwick station in Bedfordshire

An "inaccessible" railway station is to get a new bridge and three lifts installed after a long-running campaign.

Work on the Access for All project at Flitwick in Bedfordshire will start in the summer and should be complete by March 2024, the train operator Govia Thameslink said.

Currently passengers who wish to travel south from the station - but cannot cross the railway bridge - have had to be taxied to Luton Parkway, according to Ian Cook, who leads the Step Free Access group for disabled people.

He welcomed the investment and said the group had campaigned for changes for six years.

Ian Cook, from Step Free Access, and Arthur Taylor, chairman of Bedford Commuters' Association, at Flitwick railway station

"I just kept hitting a brick wall, so it's great that we've actually got it now," Mr Cook, from Flitwick, said.

"If it's raining, or frosty, the steps will be horrendous - it's a health and trip hazard."

In a letter seen by the BBC, the managing director for Great Northern and Thameslink, Tom Moran, said the company was working to "deliver the preferred solution of a new fibre re-enforced plastic bridge and three lifts and stairs".

Some passengers at Flitwick have found the stairs difficult to use

Gavin Crook, principal programme sponsor for Network Rail, which will deliver the work, said it would "bring step-free access" to the station.

“It’ll make it easier for passengers with reduced mobility, pushchairs, bikes or heavy luggage to get around the station and make the most of its rail connections."