More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
MP Craig Mackinlay has joined the charity, Guide Dogs, in calling for tactile warnings to be installed on the platforms of two railway stations.
They are wanted for Dumpton Park, in Ramsgate, and Sandwich, both in his South Thanet constituency, by 2026.
The warnings are a safety measure which tells blind and partially-sighted people when they are close to the platform edge.
The move comes after a visually-impaired passenger died after an accident in February 2020 after falling from the platform edge at a station in South East England and was struck by an approaching train.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) investigation found that “the platform edge was not fitted with tactile surface markings intended to assist visually-impaired people. This is a possible causal factor”.
Mr Mackinlay is lobbying Network Rail, the Rail Delivery Group and train operating companies such as Southeastern Trains to reduce the risk to visually-impaired people using platforms where tactile surfaces have not yet been installed.
He said: “There are approximately 56,200 people living with sight loss in the county of Kent and they deserve to know they will be safe on our train stations’ platforms.
“However, the latest data from Network Rails shows that a third of station platforms in Great Britain do not have warning tactile.
"This is an essential safety feature for blind and partially-sighted people when they are close to the platform edge."
The MP said this was why he was joining Guide Dogs to call for the measures to be installed on platforms that do not have it.
