Train station lift, Station Drive delays for 9 months – drop in session Thursday 31 August – line closure

The long awaited project to install a lift on Platform 1 of Ludlow rail station will commence in October. During the works, Station Drive outside the station will be restricted to one lane with contra flow traffic for nine months from October to May.

Network Rail is holding a drop in session to explain its plans from 3pm to 7pm on Thursday 31 August at the Ludlow Mascall Centre.

This lift is needed, as anyone with limited mobility will know. But I am concerned that there will be disruption to traffic for up to nine months. I have a lot of questions on why traffic restrictions need to be in place for so long and about the details of the traffic restrictions.

In unrelated work, Transport for Wales is to close the line between Hereford and Shrewsbury from Tuesday 12 September to Thursday 21 September. Rail replacement buses will run.

Network Rail announced the timing of the lift installation works last Thursday. It is not clear who the rail company has informed about the restrictions to traffic flow. Given that this work has been planned for years and the drop in session at Ludlow Mascall must have been booked many weeks ago, it is unacceptable that only a week’s notice is given of the public consultation. I have seen nothing about it on social media or local print and broadcast media.

There are no objections to installing the lift. Quite the contrary. We need it. But why are there nine months of traffic restrictions planned?

The installation of a lift on Platform 1 is funded under Network Rail’s Access for All initiative. Currently passengers with limited mobility must travel 600 metres from the ticket office, often along uneven and unlit ramps to southbound trains on Platform 2. Once the lift is installed, they will be able to access the footbridge by lift and use the modern disabled grade ramp down to Platform 2. This will be a major improvement for disabled passengers and is long overdue.

The work will lead to an uphill lane closure outside the station to allow space for cranes and other equipment. Two way lights will be in operation. Part of the station car park will also be closed. Many details of this need to be clarified.

The timing of Network Rail’s announcement just before a bank holiday and just before a week when many staff in Shropshire Council and the rail company are on leave is unacceptable.

Among the matters that need to be resolved are safe pedestrian crossings. There must be a safe pick up and drop off point for passengers, everyone has seen the problems in the early evening when passengers are collected from outside the station. The bus stop outside the station will be out of use for up to nine months. But Network Rail’s plans show no arrangements for signage to direct to alternative bus stops or temporary bus stops. If delays are lengthy, town buses will struggle to keep to timetable.

The management plan for the important work of installing a lift has been badly thought through. Many of the issues I need to raise could have been resolved if Network Rail and Shropshire Council had consulted local councillors before issuing the permissions for traffic restrictions.

Line closure Shrewsbury to Ludlow 12 September to 21 September

This closure will be a significant disruption. Transport for Wales does not give any information on why daytime closures are required. The closure will disrupt people going to work, to college, and to access health services not available in Ludlow. I am sure it is necessary but after a year of strikes, staff absences, understaffing and train units that have been withdrawn for maintenance, disruption on our railways appears permanent. We have a utopian hope of a wonderful railway. But that future always seems to be decades away.