Crossrail and Transport for London (TfL) awarded a major contract to Kone for around 50 lifts for the new Crossrail stations as well as five lifts for Bank, Greenford and Hammersmith Tube stations. Crossrail will pioneer the use of incline lifts to deliver step-free access at two of the major central London stations. Four innovative incline lifts will run alongside escalators at Farringdon and Liverpool Street Crossrail stations where it is not possible to install vertical lifts. London Underground will also install an incline lift at Greenford station by 2014.

Martin Rowark, Crossrail’s Procurement Director said: “All Crossrail stations in central London will have step-free access from street to train. The new incline lifts offer an added benefit by allowing groups travelling together to have passengers with wheelchairs, buggies or large baggage to take an incline lift while friends and family take an escalator directly alongside. These incline lifts will allow Crossrail to provide full step-free access at Farringdon and Liverpool Street stations where the platforms will sit below existing buildings, preventing the installation of traditional vertical lifts.”

The contract, valued at around £45 million, includes maintenance for a period of 22 years. Further lifts may be able to be added to this contract as other step-free access projects are delivered across TfL.

Miles Ashley, London’s Underground Programme Director of Stations said: “Greenford station will benefit from the first of the five incline lifts and represents an innovative approach in providing our customers with improved access. Incline lifts simply afford us with better opportunities to facilitate access where more traditional lift arrangements prove impossible to accommodate. Working jointly with Crossrail on this major lifts procurement has resulted in significantly better value for LU and TfL and will ensure that we increasingly deliver world class levels of reliability to our customers.”