Hither Green station has received the green light for significant accessibility improvements with the station in line for a new footbridge spanning across all six platforms with four new 16-person lifts and staircases to each.
The new bridge will directly connect to two new accessible station entrances either side of the railway, on Fernbrook Road and Springbank Road.
Once installed the four lifts will have live feeds on their operating status to help customers with their step-free journey planning and to ensure good reliability.
Hither Green station is a key rail hub with around three million entries and exits a year, as well as half a million interchange journeys.
This significant upgrade is being delivered by the South East Alliance (comprising of Southeastern and Network Rail Kent Route), Network Rail’s engineers and contractors BAM Nuttall. Construction has already begun, installing metal sheet piles into the embankment either side of the railway to support the new footbridge and lifts structure, with the project expected to be completed in Autumn 2027.
Once complete, the upgrade will provide passengers with step-free access throughout the station including to and between the platforms, making it much easier for customers who are wheelchair users, have limited mobility or are travelling with luggage, bicycles and pushchairs.
The station and existing footbridges and entrances at Fernbrook Road and Springbank Road will remain open throughout the construction as will the ticket office, oyster card readers and station facilities including the confectionary stand.
Some sections of Fernbrook Road and Springbank Road will need to be closed off and a number of parking bays suspended at times during the work to create a safe working area for the construction of the project. The South East Alliance is working with Lewisham Council, and local residents in affected areas will be notified in advance of these changes.
These planned upgrades are critical for further improving accessibility on the railway in south east London and Kent. Currently, passengers with accessibility requirements who need to interchange at Hither Green either must go into central London, change and then come back out again; or take a bus/taxi to Lewisham. Once complete, this will no longer be an issue, considerably reducing the time and inconvenience for those passengers.
Hither Green will be latest station in Kent to benefit from accessibility upgrades as part of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) AfA scheme, following Canterbury East (Aug 2021), St Mary Cray (Jan 2022), Chatham (Nov 2022), Petts Wood (Dec 2023), Bexley (Apr 2024) and Plumstead (Nov 2024), with Herne Bay and Shortlands schemes also set for completion this Spring.
David Davidson, Network Rail’s Kent route director, said: “I’m delighted we have begun construction on critical accessibility upgrades at Hither Green station, following receipt of funding from the Department for Transport.
“Hither Green is a vital piece of our rail network and these upgrades to create a step-free station are so important for ensuring we are supporting passengers with accessibility needs and improving the passenger experience.
“This is a significant piece of work that will benefit the millions of passengers who use this station every year and is another example of how, alongside our alliance partners Southeastern, we are striving the make our railway accessible to all and encourage more people to ditch their cars and choose the railway as their green, sustainable method of travel.”
Steve White, Southeastern Managing Director, said: “Southeastern currently provides around 17,000 passenger assists every period. We share a commitment with our alliance partner to make travelling by train more inclusive.
“This funding award is great news for Hither Green. It will be transformative for the local community and removes many of the barriers that some people can face when travelling by train. Southeastern will complete complementary work at the station and has recently installed an accessible toilet.
“These access for all schemes support the strong increase we are seeing in the number of people with accessible needs that are travelling with us. It’s really encouraging that the majority are turn up and go customers that don’t need booked assistance.
“But we also recognise that there is much more we need to do as an industry. That is why our tender for new trains includes a requirement for manufacturers to show how they can maximise level boarding at stations across our Metro network so we can increasingly become step free from platform to train as well as street to platform.”
Janet Daby, MP for Lewisham East, said: “All residents in Lewisham East deserve excellent access to public transport so I welcome this positive news and look forward to following Network Rail’s progress in completing these critical accessibility upgrades at Hither Green station.
“Every station in our community must have step-free access and I will continue to work until this is achieved.”
