The central line station now offers step-free access to the platforms from street level, boosting the station’s accessibility to wheelchair users and those with mobility impairments.
Assistance dog and wheelchair users will also benefit from a new wide aisle gate in the ticket hall which will allow them to independently enter and exit the station instead of having to ask staff for assistance. Other improvements include installation of tactile strips with tonal contrast on steps to aid visually impaired passengers and a new accessible toilet.
Kulveer Ranger, Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s transport advisor, said: “Hainault is a cracking example of the improvements the Mayor wants to see in our Tube stations, particularly those in outer London. The work that has taken place there will make the station more accessible, safer and easier to use for the thousands of people that rely on it every week.”
Work to provide step-free access to the Tube network started under Ken Livingstone. In January the Mayor confirmed Transport for London had decided to “stop work on six step-free access projects across the London Underground network.”
In response to questions from Labour’s Val Shawcross the Mayor said the canceled projects were “at an early stage, where significant costs could be saved.”
The Mayor has promised TfL would “continue to increase the accessibility of the Tube over time, building on the foundation of the 58 step-free stations already in place” but says “resources will be targeted at stations where major station redevelopment work is already planned”.
TfL says a total 65 stations will be step-free by 2012.
