Lift works at Harrow-on-the-Hill

[goldenarrow]

This station has long been overdue for some care and attention with the ticket hall looking visibly worn and not forgetting the total lack of accessibility for a hub that is the proverbial Crewe of the Metropolitan line and a major bus interchange.

Publicity in and around the station says that lift works are due to finish by May 2020. I seem to recall that only one side of the station would initially go step free but I wanted to ask which one because I can’t find the news article/document.

Il start uploading photos as I pass through the station fairly regularly.

[londoner]

I recall it was the back entrance to the station, not the front but I may be wrong. The bus station is in desperate need of an overhaul too, particularly given the increase in demand due to a large number of flats being erected in the area.

[howda62]

The committee paper that snoggle yesterday linked in the Crossrail delayed opening thread lists Harrow-on-the-Hill in the step-free access works as "Harrow-on-the-Hill (South)", and as being due in the Jan-Mar 2020 timeline. Presumably the South qualifier means the step-free will indeed be via the back entrance. There is no mention of "Harrow-on-the-Hill (North)" in any of the step-free plans listed through to 2024.

Whilst the link worked yesterday, it no longer appears to work for me, so reading that now off a copy that was still open in my browser.

[londoner]

Feb 6, 2019 17:58:26 GMT howda62 said:

The committee paper that snoggle yesterday linked in the Crossrail delayed opening thread lists Harrow-on-the-Hill in the step-free access works as "Harrow-on-the-Hill (South)", and as being due in the Jan-Mar 2020 timeline. Presumably the South qualifier means the step-free will indeed be via the back entrance. There is no mention of "Harrow-on-the-Hill (North)" in any of the step-free plans listed through to 2024.

Whilst the link worked yesterday, it no longer appears to work for me, so reading that now off a copy that was still open in my browser.

I have to say, only making the back south entrance step free makes the scheme much more limited Yes, some residents live on the back entrance side, but the bus station and all the shops are located from the other "front" entrance*. If you don't make this latter entrance step free, people with access needs who need the shops therefore will continue to face a somewhat long walk all going around of sorts to the shop, unless they get assistance to go down the steps on the front entrance*.

Actually Earls Court is a little similar to the layout in Harrow, albeit on a much larger scale. Imagine if they had only made the back entrance step free there....

*for those that don't know, the back and front entrances to Harrow are accessible to the public without needing a ticket.

[marri260]

I'm now no longer working at Harrow having moved on elsewhere within LU so I don't have any recent information, but SFA (Step Free Access) works weren't exactly zooming along in the months before I left. That being said, I don't know if the project is on schedule or not.

There is clearly some confusion regarding which side of the station will be step free. The College Road exit from the station, ie for the Bus Station and shopping centres etc will be step free. The Station Road entrance to the carpark will not be step free.

The College Road lift will be accessed from a new passageway (taking up what is currently office space) to the right of the stairs as you approach them from the ticket hall, and come out somewhere in or next to the greengrocer retail unit down at street level. Why only one side of the station will have a lift, I do not know.

I'm not sure what the final decision on the location of the equipment rooms for the lifts was in the end. Various options were proposed, two of which involved the old lift shafts. I certainly enjoyed finally putting the knowledge and access I'd gained to the old lifts to use during the early phases of the project.

[goldenarrow]

Thanks londoner , howda62 and marri260 , There has been so many different references with regards to the works that I’d forgotten which is which. First I think it was referred to as the College Road entrance/exit but any mention of specific exits dried up until those committee papers referenced Harrow (South) which is confusing in itself as College Road faces North so could perhaps be a typo or a hint that step free access will come to the Southbound platforms first.