Work to improve station's access

6.42.22pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 12th Apr 2007

A Leicestershire railway station is to undergo work to improve access for its disabled passengers. Network Rail has announced that work to build two new lifts and a footbridge at Loughborough railway station will start later in the year.

Campaigners, who have been calling for better disabled facilities, have welcomed the news but said the platform also needed to be lengthened. The work is being funded by the Department for Transport.

Terry Holt, secretary of the Leicestershire and Northants rail action committee, said: "At last we can look forward to at least some of our requirements for disabled access at Loughborough. We're still short of some facilities even with these lifts. Loughborough still remains without a disabled level access toilet, the platform height is far too high for many disabled and elderly people to get on a train and the platform length is still only four coaches long when many of the trains are eight coaches."

A Network Rail spokesperson said that a start date for the work had not yet been confirmed but was expected to begin within the next couple of months. He added that officials were looking at whether it would be possible to extend the station's southbound platform as part of the work.