Plans to upgrade Cardiff station which has caused problem for years
Plans to upgrade Cathays train station in Cardiff have been given prior approval. The station is in the student heart of the city and is one of Wales' busiest but currently has no step-free access between its two platforms.
This has caused issues for disabled people for decades. The lack of lift or ramps up to the bridge creates a significant journey via a nearby road bridge for anyone unable to use the stairs. The sloped pathway up to this road bridge is also inaccessible for many wheelchair users.
These issues have been raised by campaigners as long ago as the 1990s. The footbridge itself was built in 1969, years before the station itself was built in 1983 and the footbridge came under railway ownership.
Council planning documents detail how the existing bridge "offers no facilities for persons of limited mobility" and say it isn't feasible to make the bridge accessible without removing it and starting again.
A new footbridge will be built, with a staircase and lift on the Park Place side of the station. The metal bridge will cross above the railway directly into the first floor of the Centre for Student Life building - instead of descending straight to ground level like the current one.
When asked whether passengers would have to exit through the main CSL building, a TfW spokesperson confirmed this wouldn't be the case - and there would instead be a "segregated routeway" as well as an option to enter the main CSL building if needed. You can see the designs in full here[2].
The designs were granted prior approval by Cardiff[3] Council on Thursday, July 27, 2023. However TfW stresses that the exact designs are not finalised and the tender process for the detailed design and construction hasn't yet started.
Cathays is the seventh-busiest train station in Wales with an estimated 514,730 entries and exits between April 2021 and March 2021 - more than at Pontypridd[4], Wrexham[5] General and Port Talbot[6] Parkway. It is Cardiff's third-most-used station after Cardiff Central and Cardiff Queen Street.
Issues with the station were raised back in the late 1990s, when Natasha Hirst (photographer, chair of Disability Arts Cymru and president of the National Union of Journalists) was a disabled students' officer at Cardiff University Students' Union. She told WalesOnline: "This has been an ongoing issue for a very long time - it was flagged within the campaigning of the SU and it didn't really go anywhere.
"It's not accessible and it doesn't feel especially safe crossing it either. It's a small station but has a very high passenger footfall and I find it really quite staggering that it's taken this long for them to be willing to put the investment into making it accessible."
The new plans, she said, were one of many issues "where disabled people have been campaigning for so long," with other examples being "safety, and there being easy access to human support if you need (whether it's buying tickets or dealing with the challenges of planning your journey, getting on and off the trains and around the platforms)."
She added: "We just need that continuous improvement. When disabled people don't have access to be able to independently use trains and buses, they don't have access to their human rights to independent living."
A TfW spokesperson said: "As part of the once-in-generation South Wales Metro project we will be improving accessibility at stations across the Core Valley Lines. This includes a proposed fully accessible footbridge at Cathays railway station.
"We are currently working with key stakeholders including the Welsh Government[7], Cardiff Council[8] and Cardiff University[9] on the initial stages of the scheme and will be able to share further information as it progresses. Transport for Wales is committed to improving accessibility at stations throughout the Wales and Borders network and our work is guided by our dedicated experts who advise us how to support disabled, deaf and older customers to use our services effectively."
A spokesperson for Cardiff University added: "We are working closely with key partners - including TfW, Welsh Government, Cardiff Council etc - so our students (and the wider Cathays community) have a fully accessible station in Cathays, as soon as practicably possible."
References
- ^ First look at Wales' new tram trains as huge £100m depot takes shape (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ here (www.cardiffidoxcloud.wales)
- ^ Cardiff (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Pontypridd (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Wrexham (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Port Talbot (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Welsh Government (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Cardiff Council (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Cardiff University (www.walesonline.co.uk)