During the London Assembly Transport Committee meeting on Wednesday, 13 November AM Bassam Mahfouz questioned Network Rail on when it would improve the gap issue at Ealing Broadway's Elizabeth Line platform, after multiple injuries at the station. 

Since the Elizabeth Line opened in May 2022, there have been multiple reports of passengers receiving 'serious injuries' after trying to get on or off the train at Ealing Broadway, with one describing the platform as "a death trap". 

Network Rail have previously acknowledged the incidents and have said that it's a "number one priority" is to resolve the height disparity between the train and platform at the station. 

The gap at Ealing Broadway is larger than the safety guidance for new platforms, which allows a maximum horizontal gap of 27.5cm and a maximum vertical gap of 23cm, but these rules only apply to new stations which Ealing Broadway is not. 

AM Mahfouz pressed the railway company to give a timeline on these improvements, given some of the incidents happened two years ago.  

Ealing & Hillingdon Assembly Member, Bassam Mahfouz, asked: "It has been six months since these incidents (have been reported). When can we expect to see those proposals come forward?" 

Network Rail's Kayleigh Spires spoke to London Assembly members during its Transport Committee meeting on 13 November (credit: London Assembly).

National Programme Director for All at Network Rail, Kayleigh Spires, replied: "I would have to take away this specific example and understand more about the commitment and the timings against that.  

"Ealing Broadway is a station I know very well, I worked on Cross Rail so I recognise the challenges at that station and both with others and I know we made huge improvements to those west London stations in terms of platform to street access and recognise the frustration that that's then not level boarding at those sites."

AM Mahfouz then explained that he acknowledges the "financial implications" of upgrading train station infrastructure but, as Spires mentioned earlier in the meeting, the Harrington Hump—a cost-effective solution of raising the platform—could be installed at stations with large platform gaps, such as Ealing Broadway. 

Spires told Mahfouz that she and Network Rail would have to examine the specific situation at Ealing Broadway and come back with solutions. 

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