Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve accessibility on the railway for disabled passengers in the North West.

We are committed to improving access to the rail network and a further 10 stations in the North West were included in the recent Access for All announcement. Northern Rail are required to spend at least £250,000 on station accessibility improvements in each year of their franchise and in addition deliver 10 accessible hub stations.

New and refurbished trains that meet modern accessibility standards are being introduced in the coming months. These will provide audio visual passenger information systems, priority seating, and wheelchair spaces among other accessibility features for disabled passengers.