Long-awaited access improvements to Montrose railway station are finally on the near horizon.
Years after an upgrade scheme was first mooted and following false starts to the project in more recent times, Scottish Transport minister Keith Brown has confirmed that the programme to install access lifts and a new footbridge at the Angus stop is set to begin later this month.
The news came after an approach to the minister by Montrose councillor Mark Salmond, one of the local politicians who had grown increasingly exasperated with Network Rail over a lack of communication on the improvement scheme.
Montrose is one of the stations earmarked in the company’s Access for All initiative, a 10-year programme to improve provision for rail users with mobility problems.
The Montrose situation has led to wheelchair users having to cross the line on a boarded walkway. In some cases, northbound passengers have even been forced to travel on to stops including Stonehaven and Aberdeen so they can get on to a train which will return them to the Angus halt on the ‘correct’ side for exiting the platform to the town.
Montrose had been due to benefit from the access scheme last year before it slipped down the plan. Frustrated by the lack of direct information from Network Rail, Mr Salmond took the matter up with the minister, who has now confirmed by letter that the company has told Transport Scotland it intends to begin work this month and complete the project by August.
Mr Brown added: ”The timescales are subject to an early resolution of an ongoing issue regarding signal sighting at the station.”
Mr Salmond said the confirmation and start date were long overdue.
”This is good news for Montrose and hopefully we can look forward with some confidence to these improvements finally being put in place,” he said. ”I’m delighted that the transport minister has taken time to respond and clarify the position.
”There was uncertainty over whether or not this project was going to be delivered and all I sought to do was, firstly, ensure that the project was definitely going ahead and, secondly, get a timetable so that the public would know when the improvements would be in place.
”These improvements are sorely needed. Hopefully by the autumn of this year Montrose will have its much-needed new access facilities, particularly for disabled users as well as those with heavy bags and families with push chairs, all of whom have faced difficulties because of the stairs and walkway arrangement. It will mean that we will have a railway station fit for the 21st century and not the 19th century.”