Official opening for £3.5m Uddingston accessible bridge (2024)

Uddingston’s new £3.5 million accessible railway station footbridge has been officially opened with a special ceremony involving community representatives and project teams.

The new bridge structure has lifts on each platform, meaning all passengers – such as those with reduced mobility, travelling with children in prams and buggies or who have luggage – can safely walk or wheel along a step-free route between platforms.

It first opened to passengers last month, and the official event to mark completion of the nine-month project was attended by community organisation Grow Uddingston and project contributors Nicola McCrory and Liane Tallo, both former pupils of Uddingston Grammar, as well as contractors, project staff and local politicians.

The nine-month project to create step-free access is part of Network Rail’s accessibility for all programme and makes Uddingston the 13th station to be completed by principal contractor Story under the scheme.

Work included a major overnight operation in March to install the 75-tonne bridge’s steel lift towers, staircases and the 15-tonne bridge deck above the railway line.

A commemorative plaque was unveiled at last week’s ceremony, which will now be mounted near the new bridge, with railway officials hoping that the improved accessibility wiill encourage an increase in passengers using the station and public transport.

Network Rail route delivery director Jeremy Spence told attendees at the celebration event: “Access for All is a rolling programme of investment across Scotland’s railway to make all of our stations as accessible as possible, and it’s great that we now have another one of our stations fully accessible.

“It’s a hugely important scheme and investment which will benefit station users – by making rail travel more accessible, we can encourage more passengers to use public transport and hopefully more people in and around Uddingston to travel by train.”

He thanked all those who contributed to the project, and added: “We met Nicola and Liane through the vision support team at Uddingston Grammar and have worked together and taken some advice on how best to take these improvements forward, and we’re very grateful for their support.”

A presentation was made to the two former pupils in recognition of their time in providing feedback on the improvements, which Network Rail say will be “invaluable in the delivery of future projects”.

Mr Spence also praised the work of community group Grow Uddingston, who maintain the station’s train-shaped planters with a colourful array of shrubs, saying:”You can tell there’s a great sense of pride in the station and it always looks really nice and tidy.”

Group representative Donald Burt spoke at the official opening and told staff: “We congratulate you on this project, improving the station and making it accessible for all – Grow Uddingston will continue to do our small part in making it more attractive to all as well.”

The ceremony was also attended by community representatives including Bothwell & Uddingston councillor Maureen Devlin, and constituency MP Michael Shanks, who said: “This is a really important project, because making our transport infrastructure accessible should be a really critical part of what we do as a country – it’s a really great addition to the community.”

Brian O’Hare of Story Contracting said the firm was “incredibly proud” to mark the footbridge’s official opening, saying: “We have been able to deliver a project that improves accessibility for all, making a positive impact on the passengers that use it.”

David Lister of Scotrail said: “Access for All is an important initiative dedicated to delivering enhanced accessibility at many of our stations; we’re delighted to see the opening of the new bridge and lifts at Uddingston and are pleased to have been able to support our colleagues at Network Rail in delivering this new facility, further enhancing our commitment to a more inclusive and accessible railway network for all.”

Transport Scotland representative Damian Briody said: “The completion of these accessibility improvements at Uddingston station will be much welcomed by passengers and help encourage more people to use rail.

“On behalf of ministers, I thank all those involved for delivering this on time and in keeping with the historic nature of the station – and thanks are also extended to passengers and communities for their patience during the works.”

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