A major scheme, worth over £10.5 million, to make Petts Wood station in South East London, fully accessible for the first time is to get underway.

The work, funded by the Department for Transport's Access for All scheme and delivered by Network Rail and its partners BAM Nuttall, will start late May and should finish in autumn 2023.

Network Rail's route director for Fiona Taylor said: "This is such an exciting project for us and a big one too. We know there’s a long way to go to make our railway accessible for everyone, but every one of these schemes helps us take a great step forward.

"There will be some changes to the way the station operates while we do the work, including the creation of a temporary staircase to access the ticket office, but it will continue to be open and trains will run throughout the work. I'm grateful to everyone’s patience while we're working in their community and can’t wait to open the lifts next year!"


Southeastern's Passenger Services director, David Wornham, said: "We're always wanting to do more for our passengers and this investment at Petts Wood by the DfT will make a huge difference to people who use this key station on our network. When the four new lifts are fully installed next year, the station will be more accessible to a wider group of people, and we’re looking forward to seeing the project completed."

The four new lifts will be built to serve the whole station, with one serving the main entrance in Station Square, one lift each on platforms 1/2 and 3/4 and the fourth lift serving the Western Approach entrance. Passengers will also see platforms extended to create new space for them to access the lifts safely and with plenty of room.

There will be changes to the station car park during the project, with some spaces used for access and site compounds.