A “first of its kind” agreement has been sought between the county council and SWR to improve accessibility to the 48 rail stations in Hampshire.
The “Hampshire Rail Station Interchange Plan” is a plan that identifies current issues at rail interchanges and aims to address them.
It was developed in collaboration between Hampshire County Council and South Western Railway, with input from various stakeholder organisations, including Hampshire’s other train operators.
Under the plan, all 48 stations have been assessed and categorised based on usage. Recommendations for improvements aim to make stations more accessible and attractive and provide better interchange between trains and other forms of transportation.
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At the moment, 22 of Hampshire’s stations have full step-free access. A further twenty-three are partially accessible, and three, those in Botley, Shawford and Micheldever, are inaccessible.
With the plan, some improvements could include additional cycle parking, new bus interchange facilities, and passenger lifts between platforms.
The project will open up potential funding opportunities from various sources, including developer funding and rail industry funding streams.
However, councillors raised concerns that the plan suggests the funding is focused on the largest station and small stations could be “left behind” such as the Botley station or the Micheldever station, where there is no “hope in getting the improvements they all want to see for these villages”, said Cllr Jackie Porter.
Addressing the concerns, the leader of the council, Nick Adams-King, explained that it is the first time a county council has carried out this type of agreement, which is a “living” document that will be reviewed regularly to address priorities.
Cllr Adams-King said that what the council need is a document that includes plans for each of those stations. This is so that when money becomes available, which often very limited time to bid for money, they would have something “we can take out of the shelve” and show the Government the plan “we have, and we know it will have a positive impact and we know it will work”.
“It might be that some of that is focused on larger stations, or perhaps in small or rural stations […], but if we don’t have the aspirations and the plan when money becomes available, we wouldn’t want to miss out on those opportunities”, he added.
Philip Dominey from South Western Railway said that the document is the first of this type that, with the approval, will be “showcased” across the whole service and beyond to “show people ‘this is how you work together’ and promote integration and sustainable transport”.
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He added: “This is the result of a really positive partnership that we have in Hampshire. It delivers a forward-thinking plan for integration and sustainable access in our stations.
Mr Dominey explained that the plan will take the organisations to the “next level” since proposals will be ready to be presented when funding opportunities arise.
“This will add all the dots. It will take things forward. It will make a huge difference in improving integration and enable positive activity in our stations.”
Currently, there will be no financial implications due to the agreement.
Stations included in the plan are:
- Basingstoke
- Winchester
- Farnborough Main
- Havant
- Fareham
- Aldershot
- Fleet
- Eastleigh
- Southampton Airport Parkway
- Petersfield
- Andover
- Brockenhurst
In 2022/23, 27.5 million passenger journeys were recorded across Hampshire stations, an increase of 20 per cent over 2021/22.
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However, this still represents a 30 per cent reduction compared to 2018/19, the last full year before the pandemic.
Detailed station figures are not yet available for 2023/24. Still, national data suggests that there has been a further increase of 16 per cent.
The three busiest stations in Hampshire are Basingstoke (4.0m), Winchester (3.7m) and Farnborough Main (1.9m).
The agreement was approved on October 24.
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