A RAIL firm has secured almost £1 million in funding to improve disabled access at Colchester Station.

Greater Anglia has been successful in its bid for a share of the Government’s Access for All funding.

The £903,000 cash pot, from the Department of Transport, will be used to fund a lift that links the platforms and subway to the main ticket station and car park.

Although there is a lift on the other side of the station, disabled passengers arriving at the main booking hall have to use a stairway fitted with a wheelchair lift. Greater Anglia says building the lift would make the station “entirely step free”, benefitting an estimated 52,000 people a year.

Work will start on designing the lift in the spring, with the aim of starting construction late this year.

The bid for funding was supported by Colchester Council, Essex County Council and Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership.

Simone Bailey, Greater Anglia’s asset management director, said: “We are absolutely delighted to hear that our proactive funding bid for Colchester station has been successful, enabling us to make rail travel more accessible for all.

“We are very grateful to our partner organisations who worked with us to get this fantastic result that will make a big difference to so many people.”

She added: “Along with the enhanced accessibility features of our new fleet of trains, this funding means that we are really starting to transform rail travel for people with disabilities and other accessibility needs, making it much easier for them to travel.”

Greater Anglia was also successful in gaining funding for accessibility improvements at Bury St Edmunds and Needham Market stations in Suffolk.

The company says it is committed to improving accessibility by pioneering accessibility awareness training courses, delivered by professional disabled trainers in order to improve customer service for disabled passengers.