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Tube lift faces axe as cost hits £100m
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard17 Jul 2008
Plans for a lift at the newly developed Shepherd's Bush Central line station could be scrapped over fears of escalating costs.
It will cause major difficulties for the extra 70,000 expected to travel through the Underground station when it returns to service at the same time as the opening of the Westfield London shopping centre later this year.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council has been told that - due to buried water mains, sewers, gas pipes and electricity cables - it could cost up to £100 million to dig the shaft necessary for the lifts.
The lift itself will cost a fraction of that at just £1million.
The council's deputy leader, Nicholas Botterill, is meeting transport commissioner Peter Hendy today to question him over the detail.
The Central line station has been closed for refurbishment works since February and, although the new lifts were not due to be installed in the current revamp, TfL had said they would be put in soon after.
Council leader Stephen Greenhalgh said: "It is inconceivable in the 21st century that you would revamp a station without putting in step-free access."
TfL says the plan to install lifts is "still under consideration" but the council is concerned that the £100 million figure mooted could threaten the work.
Mr Greenhalgh said: "TfL promised us that they would look into every possible way to put step-free access in Shepherd's Bush Station at a reasonable cost. We hope that this hugely inflated figure is not some kind of smokescreen or way of softening up local opinion."
Reader views (1)
It is appalling that, in 2008, it is legal for a station to be built without full disabled access. Why are we hearing this now? The leaflet put through my door last week was worded as though this was a recent discovery on the part of those building the station, avoiding the obvious issue that the architects' plans must have been finalised long before the station was closed and building work began. If the contractors are genuinely claiming it will cost £100 million to construct a lift, TLF should be using a different company.
In an age where we can send people to Mars and perform quadruple bypass surgery surely it is not beyond the knowledge of engineers to create a lift in an existing space? It is a basic breach of human rights to deny disabled people access to the station.
In addition to wheelchair users, what about all the young families with pushchairs and those wanting to take the new overland to Gatwick Airport, who will presumably have luggage...?
- Lucinda, Shepherd's Bush, London, 21/07/2008 10:59
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