Disabled people 'waiting very long time' for accessible travel

Work to the new footbridge is expected to be completed in the spring

Disabled people are "often waiting a very, very long time" for accessible travel arrangements, a charity has said.

Transport for All's comments come after an MP said the delay in constructing lifts and a new bridge at Theale train station in Berkshire was a "case study" in bureaucracy.

Redevelopment work was originally due to be completed by February 2014, but has been delayed until this year.

Network Rail said the project was not fully funded when it was first announced in 2013, and work began after funding was obtained in 2021.

Theale Station has never been fully accessible

The work, which includes the installation of lifts that will make the station accessible to wheelchair users for the first time, is part of the Department for Transport's Access for All scheme.

The footbridge was installed in November 2023 at Theale but the rest of the work is not expected to be completed until the spring.

Emma Vogelmann, public affairs manager at Transport for All, said it was "not really uncommon that when it comes to infrastructure improvements... that will increase the accessibility of the station, disabled passengers are often waiting a very, very long time".

"It can be incredibly frustrating," she added.

She also said projects sometimes resulted in less accessible travel, and urged decision makers to consult disabled people in the process.

A spokesperson for Network Rail said projects "go through" either their own accessibility panel or the Great Western Railway accessibility panel, the former of which includes "individuals with considerable lived experience of disability".

Alok Sharma blamed the delays on bureaucracy

Reading West MP Alok Sharma told The Telegraph on Monday that the delayed work at Theale was "a classic case study in just how slowly even relatively small infrastructure projects are delivered".

He blamed the delay on "the stifling bureaucracy and red tape in our system".

Network Rail said the delay was due to the need to find funding, and construction difficulties relating to the width of the tracks and the limited opportunity to do work while trains were running.

A spokesperson said: "Construction on the bridge began in 2023 after £9.5m funding was agreed in 2021, and we are on target to give customers a much better service at the station."