Constituents will be aware of Julia Lopez MP’s long-running campaign to secure step-free access for Platform 6 of Upminster Station to make public transport in Hornchurch and Upminster as accessible as possible. Following the recent announcement that a further £350 million is to be spent improving the accessibility of the railway network, Julia has written to the Secretary of State for Transport, Mark Harper MP, to make the case for step-free access at Platform 6.

The fact that Platform 6 does not have step-free access has long stood out as a glaring anomaly in an otherwise very accessible corner of the rail network. The platform is the only one at Upminster Station without a lift and links with the Upminster-Romford branch of the London Overground service calling at Emerson Park and Romford stations, both of which have step-free access. Many Upminster residents will use this service to catch the Elizabeth Line, with direct services to Heathrow, and where all stations have step-free access from street to platform. Finally, all but one of the 28 stations accessible via c2c services also have step-free access from street to platform.

Julia has therefore been campaigning since 2018 to address this anomaly and worked with c2c to put forward several bids for Access for All funding, through which accessibility improvements to the rail network can be supported. Following the Government’s recent Network North announcement, in which it was confirmed that £350 million which had previously been earmarked for HS2 has been reallocated to improve accessibility at 100 railway stations, Julia has written to the Secretary of State to advocate for Upminster Station to be considered as one of these 100 stations.

You can find Julia’s full letter to the Secretary of State below.