Lifts, stairs and escalators

Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter April 2026

This is the final version of Dick Dunmore’s series on accessing underground rail stations

Lifts and locations

The provision of lifts at new stations has led to two new issues.

First, avoiding steps completely on long journeys still involves careful study of lift guides like the one below, which suggests that merely to cross Paddington from Elizabeth line to Paddington Basin means finding and using six lifts. On a recent trip from my flat in Greenwich to Kings Cross I used eight in five stations: one at Cutty Sark; one at West India Quay; two at Canary Wharf Elizabeth line; two at Farringdon; and two at Kings Cross.

Lifts and luggage

Second, improved supply has led to increased demand, not just for those in wheelchairs and with bicycles and buggies but also for those with wheeled luggage. When the Victoria line was built, business travel meant carrying a briefcase in one hand and perhaps a suitcase in the other, with a total mass probably under 15 kilograms. The briefcase has since become a backpack, but wheeled luggage has led to people travelling with up to four cases with a total mass of 50 kilograms or more. Suitcases which glide smoothly across airport floors can be unmanageable and unsafe on moving vehicles.

On escalators, even one large case can be dangerous. Within three years of opening, the escalators to the Elizabeth line at Paddington are protected by signs, barriers and staff directing those with luggage to the lifts.

At risk of schadenfreude, escalators at Sydney’s 2023 expanded Central Station is similarly full of widely-ignored warning signs.

With the continued growth in long-distance travel, many visitors arrive with luggage packed far away, and have few options but to travel with it.

Luggage, like wheelchairs, bicycles and buggies, takes up space, and lifts need to be bigger. Cutty Sark’s 1999 eight-person lift rarely carries more than five, dropping to two with bicycles, buggies or luggage or only one in an electric wheelchair, which cannot be turned within the lift. In 2021, Battersea Power Station’s new lift was little better: on the day the station opened in a cavernous box, an electric wheelchair user complained that the lift was too small for him to rotate his chair, forcing him to reverse out.

National Rail still formally says ‘Bring up to 3 items, at no extra cost’ although no item ‘should be larger than 1 metre in any dimension’ (for guitarists, a Fender Stratocaster but not a Gibson SG) and “you must be able to carry large luggage without assistance”, so do not expect to be met by porters. Open access rail operators can be stricter, and Lumo allows only a small suitcase (63x41x27) and a small bag on the overhead racks or under the seat.

Smaller allowances could be introduced but, even if widely advertised, and consistent between National Rail, Overground, Underground, DLR, trams and buses, might be difficult to enforce. Restrictions could force many passengers to revert to taxis and ride-sharing services, exacerbating road congestion.

The consequence for all the operators is that the average passenger will need more space in lifts, and more space in vehicles, and more boarding and alighting time. New lines and stations can be built with more generous lifts provision, but are likely to increase the pressure on existing lifts elsewhere.

And finally …

Good news at Cutty Sark, featured in Part 3 of this series, which after closing on 31 May 2025 was reopened with four new escalators on 23 March 2026.