A Government minister has asked his team to see if it is possible to accelerate improvements to Ulverston’s railway station described as a poor advert for the town.
Simon Fell, Barrow and Furness MP, met rail minister Huw Merriman after the Budget to discuss Ulverston station and the potential electrification of the Furness Line.
Mr Fell said: “Ulverston is a beautiful, listed, station but is falling into disrepair. While Northern and Network Rail are working to repair and renew the canopies, it is a poor advert for the town.
“The minister has asked his team to pick up with Northern and Network Rail to see whether it might be possible to accelerate improvements.”
Northern bosses said the company has started to carry out repairs to Ulverston train station as it celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.
It comes after an account on X, formerly Twitter, reported there were boarded up windows, missing glass in the canopy, rotten door frames and loose cables hanging from the ceiling.
@Every_Station also reported the station wall was crumbling away, that the canopy had to be held up by scaffolding and that the roof was close to collapsing.
“The station is literally falling apart. With all these issues, one can’t help but worry and wonder how long until it’s unsafe for passengers to use the station”, the post read.
Craig Harrop, regional director at Northern, previously said: “We are working hard to improve the appearance of Ulverston station and have recently carried out repairs to the chimney stacks, canopy gutters, the clock tower roof and clock face however I recognise there is much more that needs to be done.
“We are also working closely with our partners at Network Rail as some of the areas in question are outside of the station lease and are not managed or maintained by Northern.
“As an industry we are committed to improving and restoring this historic station.”
Northern said the issue of the collapsed roof was not managed by the company.
Mr Fell also discussed the Access for All scheme and bringing proper step-free access to Ulverston Station.
“An announcement on this will be made shortly and I will continue to lobby for Ulverston to make the cut until it is”, Mr Fell added.
He also spoke with the rail minister about the electrification of the Furness line.
Mr Fell said: “Given the huge work coming to Furness as part of the AUKUS project, it is essential that we look sensibly at how we improve our ability to bring freight in and out of Furness.
“Already the announcement has been made that the Energy Coast Line (Barrow-Carlisle) is to be electrified, taking 140 million tonnes of freight off the roads each year.
“But we need to do the same on the Furness Line too. The case for this is being updated and reviewed.”
