Is an upgrade for Elephant & Castle rail station on the cards?
Passengers at Elephant & Castle Railway Station are being asked to fill in a survey about potential improvements, including the possibility of introducing step-free access to the platforms.
The 160-year-old station is the only zone 1 station served by Thameslink trains that does not offer step-free access to its platforms, which are reached by steep staircases.
The station is next to the former Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre – currently being redeveloped to include new homes, shops and a new London College of Communication building – but in the planning for that scheme all the focus was on rebuilding the Underground's Northern line entrance, with comparatively little attention paid to the mainline station.
Train operator Thameslink – which manages Elephant & Castle Railway Station – has put up a poster in the station entrance featuring a QR code which sends users to an online survey about potential improvements.
The survey invites passengers to select their top three priorities for upgrading the station from a list of 20 options that includes "step-free access (lifts), "more toilets" and "improve ticketing facilities".
Passengers completing the survey are also asked to signal their interest in taking part in a workshop to review and comment on plans for the station.
• The survey can be found at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CP2RGNG and no closing date is indicated on the poster or the survey itself.
