KIDDERMINSTER Railway Station is being equipped with lifts and a new footbridge to make it fully accessible to disabled travellers.

The work is part of the Department for Transport's Access for All programme which is investing about £370 million to improve facilities at a number of stations throughout the country.

At Kidderminster two new lifts and lift shafts are being installed along with a footbridge linking the two platforms.

The brick lift shafts were constructed a few weeks ago while last weekend trestles on each platform were lifted into place before the bridge was craned into position on top of them.

This weekend a smaller crane will lift the two staircases into their places on each platform and they will then lead down from the bridge so that people have a choice of using the lifts or stairs.

Keith Lumley, Network Rail media relations manager for the north west, said all the work should be completed later this summer.

He explained the new footbridge made the station compliant with the disability discrimination act and was "absolutely vital" for the area.

He added: "It means that people who are less able, people in wheelchairs or even mums with buggies, will now have far better access to the station.

"It will give people the opportunity to travel by train who might have found it too difficult before. They will be far more mobile and will find getting to other places a lot simpler."

Mark Lawley, chairman of Disability Action Wyre Forest, said: "This is a big step forward. We actually did a protest in 2005 at the station because of the lack of access. This is really good news."

He explained that at the moment it was "difficult" and "dangerous" to access the line to Worcester.

He added that when disabled travellers came home from Birmingham at night the station was often unmanned and they could be "marooned" at the bottom of the ramp leading out of the station.

Mr Lawley said he would like to see further improvements and explained wheelchair users could not access the ticket office without help because the station had a stepped entrance.