Rural Railway Stations: Step Free Access

Chris Coghlan Excerpts

Tuesday 11th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) for securing this important debate. Accessibility on our railways is not simply a question of engineering and infrastructure development; it speaks to the kind of society that we want to build: one that enables independence and provides equality of opportunity and dignity for every passenger, regardless of their mobility.

Rural stations in particular can be lifelines for those who would otherwise find travel difficult, but as we have heard many remain inaccessible to those who need them the most. That is why I am delighted to mark the progress being made at Par station in my constituency. For many months, I have worked with Network Rail, Cornwall council and the Department for Transport to ensure that the long-promised accessible footbridge at Par remains part of the Mid Cornwall Metro scheme despite the significant pressures on the national Access for All programme, which may have proved useful.

[Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley) (LD)]

In my constituency, in Bookham, access to the train to London is via an uneven path through the woods. Network Rail has not prioritised accessibility upgrades. Does the hon. Member agree that the Government must do more with accessibility schemes, like those he just mentioned?

[Noah Law]

I certainly agree that the Department for Transport and Network Rail must look where there are gaps in funding those schemes to see what can be done to help plug those gaps. As we have heard from hon. Members across the Chamber, the Access for All scheme has sadly come to represent the kind of pork barrel politics that characterised the last Government’s approach —and approach that said, “We will make plans that you will love but we’re not going to tell you how we will fund them.”

Happily, the outline work on the Par station project is completed, and local residents in Par are delighted, but project partners are preparing for a key go or no-go decision in December. There remains the £1.5 million additional funding gap that must be resolved if the scheme is to proceed to full design and delivery. I urge Cornwall council to make a final push to secure that investment so that much-needed step-free access can finally be delivered for local passengers. I urge the Minister to do everything that he can to help us get this project over the line. It represents not only an important improvement for residents but a clear demonstration that we can deliver the kind of change that so many have long hoped for.

Cornwall, with its dispersed population and its growing demand for greener and better-connected travel, stands to benefit greatly from that ambition. Investment in accessibility is not just an afterthought; it is central in ensuring that every part of the country, in urban and rural areas alike, shares equally in the economic and social opportunities that modern inclusive transport can unlock. Accessible public transport should not be seen as a luxury or an optional add-on; it is a basic expectation for every community, however rural. It deserves continued support across the rail network.