Lawrence Hill rail station to become step free with new lift

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

The stairs seen on the left are currently the only way of accessing platform two

An inner-city rail station is to become entirely step free for the first time in 162 years after plans for a lift were approved.

Bristol City Council has given the go-ahead for the work for platform two at Lawrence Hill Station, which will be funded by the West of England Combined Authority (Weca).

Platform one already has step-free access through the neighbouring Lidl car park, but West of England Mayor Helen Godwin said the station - which first opened in 1863 - has not been fully accessible "for too many years".

Representatives from Bristol City Council, Network Rail and Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) have all welcomed the announcement.

Currently platform two at Lawrence Hill is only accessible via a staircase, which Ms Godwin says has excluded many disabled and older people from train travel.

"We want all of our stations to be fully accessible, so it's great that our plans have now been approved to install a new lift to make Lawrence Hill step-free," she said.

It comes as part of a wider £400 million rail upgrade across the West Country, with five new stations set to be built in the coming years at Charfield, Henbury, North Filton, Pill and Portishead.

Two others have already opened since 2023 - Portway Park and Ride and Ashley Down.

Bristol City Council leader Tony Dyer said: "Moving forward with a new station lift at Lawrence Hill is part of our wider plan for extending and improving access to rail travel across our region."

Marcus Jones, western route director at Network Rail, said: "Today's announcement brings us another step closer to bringing better rail travel for the people of Bristol and the west of England."

Weca is currently running a survey until 20 October asking people to record their experiences of using stations across the area.

[rogerw]

A step in the right direction. All we need is a ticket machine on the Bristol bound platform where, I would suspect, demand is greater for longer journeys

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks, rogerw.

May I encourage all of our members and other readers to include that suggestion to WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about), on the WECA survey: it's free, and easy to do.

CfN.

[infoman]

The survey closes on Monday 20 October 2025,so please in as soon as possible.

This give a direct to link to the survey

 https://r1.dotdigital-pages.com/p/7AGE-JUP/rail-station-accessibility-questionnaire?_gl=1%2Ah395dk%2A_ga%2AMjE0NTUxMTkuMTc2MDQ0NjUzOQ..%2A_ga_LXGXBWXR0H%2AczE3NjA3NjI0NjckbzMkZzAkdDE3NjA3NjI0NjckajYwJGwwJGgw&fbclid=IwY2xjawNgBBBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHrB_tGNlvCB7WZT17DJpEug-lzTtVxJGeE7et7-10GWRTfPzo-C6VXMalfQW_aem_HoVQQysEVIOPp_lUJ_u4WA

[johnneyw]

Survey done.  I also mentioned that the lighting between the platform and street access at Redland Station after dark is pretty grim.  I have no mobility issues but find that I have to take care of my footing.  It must seem somewhat more daunting to someone with mobility/sight issues.  Many people resort to turning on their phone torches to get to the street.  It was probably something of a missed opportunity when the station's lighting was recently upgraded.  The platform access is technically on private property but surely some strategically placed lighting by the platform entrance could have helped more.

[Sulis John]

It’s going to be a tight squeeze getting a lift in. Presumably the platform end signal will have to be shifted and the operational platform shifted back a bit towards Stapleton Road - it may not actually be necessary to bring any of the currently disused but back from the dead.

[Noggin]

Incidentally, was it Church Road bridge that potentially needed to be rebuilt for electrification? If so, does anyone know if it's still considered necessary given the newer research around required clearances? Thanks

[stuving]

It’s going to be a tight squeeze getting a lift in. Presumably the platform end signal will have to be shifted and the operational platform shifted back a bit towards Stapleton Road - it may not actually be necessary to bring any of the currently disused but back from the dead.

This is WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about)'s artists's impression of the thing:

[Sulis John]

Lift shaft obscuring the signal…

[Mark A]

Lift shaft obscuring the signal…

"Lift shaft obscuring the signal" sounds like a phrase from those collections of text fragments that are assembled into a slightly coherent sentence and spat out as a rail transport service update - the update closing with that immortal tribute line to Minecraft: "All lines are blocked."

Mark

[IndustryInsider]

Lift shaft obscuring the signal…

Signal sighting will very much be a factor in the final design for the lift.  I note the track leading up to the platform is on a gentle right hand curve, which means that the lift shaft would not obstruct the view for approaching trains as much as it would if it was straight or curving left.

[Sulis John]

I forgot to allow for the fact that person needing to see the signal will be above the tracks, rather than standing in the platform as I was! Still going to be rather crowded at the platform end - the steps are going to have to be narrower than they are at present, I reckon.

[grahame]

I forgot to allow for the fact that person needing to see the signal will be above the tracks, rather than standing in the platform as I was! Still going to be rather crowded at the platform end - the steps are going to have to be narrower than they are at present, I reckon.

Is / will Lawrence Hill be a barriered station?

[Chris from Nailsea]

No.  There is so much easy pedestrian access to the station - for example, from the supermarket car park - that it would be completely impractical.

[Red Squirrel]

I forgot to allow for the fact that person needing to see the signal will be above the tracks, rather than standing in the platform as I was! Still going to be rather crowded at the platform end - the steps are going to have to be narrower than they are at present, I reckon.

Is / will Lawrence Hill be a barriered station?

Wouldn't it have to be staffed if it had barriers?