Croy station in £3 million access upgrade

The nine-month project will see Network Rail install a new footbridge and lifts to make it easier for people with impaired mobility or those travelling with luggage, children or cycles to access the platforms on the busy Edinburgh-Glasgow route.

When complete, the footbridge will take station users from the entrance, over the railway, with lifts providing step-free access to and from the Edinburgh bound platform.

Preparatory work on the ‘Access for All’ scheme started this month with the construction of the bridge set to begin in January.

This part of the plan is subject to agreement with North Lanarkshire Council.

Installation of the bridge and lifts is scheduled to be completed in August 2022.

Michael McArthur, Network Rail’s project manager for the accessibility work, said: “The bridge being built at the station delivers modern standards of access for those travelling to or from Croy on a day-to-day basis and will improve the travelling experience for passengers.

“The new bridge and lifts will help everyone in the community access services at Croy station easily as part of our efforts to enable even more people to travel by train.

“Delivering step-free access at stations to open up our network is one important way in which we are improving the overall experience of travelling on Scotland’s railway”.

The project has been funded by the Access for All scheme, which is a rolling programme of investment designed to improve access within stations for people with impaired mobility.

For years, the station’s car park has been a hot favourite with commuters from both Cumbernauld and Kilsyth who can travel into Glasgow's Queen Street in as little as 12 minutes -and there are no charges for parking.

However, the facility has been used by drivers from even further afield who want to minimise their travel time into the city plus costs, drawing criticsm from those who believe the parking spaces should be for locals only.