Forum Topic

Demo at Hanwell station on Aug 29th at 10am

Hanwell station is one of 7 stations being built by Crossrail at enormous expense that will not be accessible from street to train.  This will affect disabled and older people, those with baby buggies and heavy luggage.That is why we are demonstrating at Hanwell.  It is the start of a torch lit Olympic-style proccession to Brentford station, Waterloo and then to Canary Wharf.  A similar proccession is coming from Seven Kings, another inaccessible station and we will converge at the offices of Crossrail to show them this is not acceptable in the 21st centurySo please join us at Hanwell station on 29th Aug at 10am

Sally O'Connor ● 4608d2 Comments

Hanwell station is one of a very few that is perched on a very high embankment and viaduct. It is a listed building.It is also unlikely to have more than 1 crossrail train per hour if indeed even that.Factoring in disabled access is not only impracticable but will be hugely expensive to install and run. The maintenance and cost of attendance staff will be huge and as disabled passengers will not be paying for it, a degree of practicality has to prevail.Getting stuck in a 75ft lift in an unmanned station is no one's idea of fun whether one is disabled or not.Disabled passengers travel free and can use all the disabled access services provided to go to Ealing Broadway which will have full access as well as a far more frequent service and full access to the underground.Most able bodied from Hanwell will also find this much easier in any case. And it will take the same amount of time for able and disabled alike.To fully accommodate disabled (and wheelchair users are just a very small percentage of people with disabilities) on a 150 year old system will cost more than is affordable. The long term upkeep even more.  It's tough but not as tough as it is for disabled people who live miles from any sort of public transport of whom there are a great many.

Michael Brandt ● 4607d

When you say 'we' - is there any particular organisation behind this demo or is it just an informal grouping?

Andy Jones ● 4607d