A lift and footbridge make Northolt the 95th step-free Tube station. It is the borough's fifth of 13, and Drayton Green still has no step-free platform at all.
Northolt Underground station is now step-free. A new lift and a new footbridge opened last week, and Transport for London says passengers can get from the street to the train without using stairs.
It is the 95th station on the Tube network to offer step-free access. TfL says more than a third of Underground stations are now step-free.
TfL announced it on Friday 11 September, alongside a new step-free entrance at Surrey Quays in Southwark. At Northolt the work has delivered:
- a new footbridge from the ticket office to the island platform
- a new lift serving that platform
- manual boarding ramps, so the step-free route runs from street to train
- two accessible toilets, which TfL says will open shortly
Councillor Dominic Moffitt, Ealing Council’s cabinet member for climate action, said the completion was “fantastic news for our residents and a major step forward for accessibility in the borough”. He said it would open the Tube network to “disabled people, older people, parents with buggies and anyone who finds stairs a barrier to travel”.
Six years late, and the toilets have been shut since 2025
The Northolt scheme has taken a long time. TfL announced that construction had started on Monday 10 February 2025, and said then that the project had been delayed in 2020 and had needed fresh analysis and design before it could continue.
At that point TfL expected to finish in summer 2026. It has opened in the second week of September.
The station’s existing public toilets closed in April 2025 as part of the work. The replacement accessible toilets have still not opened, more than 17 months later.
Ealing Council’s leader, Peter Mason, said when the work began that it was “great to see that this work is back on track after the pandemic”.
Where the borough now stands
Northolt is the fifth of Ealing’s 13 Underground stations to be step-free. The other eight are not.
| Station | Lines | Step-free |
|---|---|---|
| Northolt | Central | Yes, from 11 September 2026 |
| Greenford | Central, Greenford branch line | Yes |
| Ealing Broadway | Central, District, Elizabeth line, GWR | Yes |
| Ealing Common | District, Piccadilly | Yes |
| Acton Town | District, Piccadilly | Yes |
| Hanger Lane | Central | No |
| Perivale | Central | No |
| West Acton | Central | No |
| North Acton | Central | No |
| North Ealing | Piccadilly | No |
| Park Royal | Piccadilly | No |
| South Ealing | Piccadilly | No |
| Northfields | Piccadilly | No |
The step-free stations are the ones listed in the April 2026 edition of TfL’s step-free Tube guide, which is the current edition on its website and does not yet include Northolt. That guide marks some stations as step-free to the platform rather than to the train, so check your own route before you travel.
The picture on the borough’s National Rail and Elizabeth line platforms is better, with one bad exception. National Rail grades every station from A, meaning step-free access to all platforms, down to C, meaning none:
- Category A: Ealing Broadway, West Ealing, Hanwell, Southall, Acton Main Line and Greenford
- Category B1, step-free to all platforms but via a long or steep ramp: Acton Central and South Acton
- Category B2, some step-free access to all platforms: South Greenford
- Category B3, some step-free access but possibly in one direction only: Castle Bar Park
- Category C, no step-free access to any platform: Drayton Green
All three of the weakest are on the Greenford branch line, the single-track shuttle between West Ealing and Greenford. National Rail’s entry for Castle Bar Park adds that the platform is too narrow for ramp assistance, so a wheelchair user cannot be helped onto a train there at all. Drayton Green, in West Ealing, is the only station in the borough with no step-free access to any platform.
What is next, and it is not in Ealing
TfL named the schemes that follow Northolt. None of them are in this borough:
- Leyton on the Central line, in Waltham Forest, due to be finished in summer 2027
- Burnt Oak on the Northern line, in Barnet, where work has started
- 45 more Tube stations where feasibility or design work is under way, including Alperton, which is in Brent, and Eastcote, which is in Hillingdon
Alperton is the nearest of those to the borough, a little over a mile east of Perivale, but it sits on the Brent side of the boundary. Eastcote is about two and a third miles north west of Northolt, in Hillingdon.
Alongside that Tube figure, more than half of London Overground stations are step-free, and every Elizabeth line station, DLR station and tram stop. TfL says the average extra journey time for passengers who need step-free access has fallen by 43 per cent since 2016.
The bus connection matters here
Northolt station sits on the Superloop SL9 bus route, which runs between Heathrow Airport and Harrow. TfL says that route steps up to a bus every 10 minutes from October.
The Superloop fleet is already fully step-free. With the station lift open, a wheelchair user can now change between the SL9 and the Central line at Northolt without leaving the step-free network.
What it means for you
If you use Northolt station, the lift and the footbridge are open now. The accessible toilets are not. TfL has not given a date beyond “shortly”, and the old public toilets have been shut since April 2025.
If you travel from Perivale or Hanger Lane and need step-free access, nothing has changed. Greenford, two stops west of Perivale, has a lift to both platforms and is the nearest step-free Central line station on that stretch.
If you use the Greenford branch line, check the category before you travel. Drayton Green has no step-free access at all, and Castle Bar Park cannot offer ramp assistance because its platform is too narrow.
If you are heading into central London, our guide to trains from Ealing to London sets out the fastest routes, and our roadworks and travel page has the current closures, including the District and Piccadilly line shutdown on 19 and 20 September.
Frequently asked questions
Is Northolt station step-free?
Yes. A new lift and a new footbridge opened in the week of 11 September 2026, and Transport for London says the station is now step-free from street to train, with manual boarding ramps available.
Are the toilets at Northolt station open?
Not yet. The station’s existing public toilets closed in April 2025 as part of the work. TfL says two replacement accessible toilets will open shortly, but has not given a date.
How many Tube stations in Ealing are step-free?
Five of the borough’s 13: Northolt, Greenford, Ealing Broadway, Ealing Common and Acton Town. Hanger Lane, Perivale, West Acton, North Acton, North Ealing, Park Royal, South Ealing and Northfields are not.
Which Ealing station has no step-free access at all?
Drayton Green, in West Ealing, is graded category C by National Rail, meaning no step-free access to any platform. Castle Bar Park is category B3, and its platform is too narrow for ramp assistance.
Which Tube station is step-free next?
Leyton, on the Central line in Waltham Forest, is due to be finished in summer 2027, and work has started at Burnt Oak on the Northern line in Barnet. Of the 45 stations in feasibility or design work, TfL named Alperton in Brent and Eastcote in Hillingdon. None are in Ealing.
Sources
- Transport for London, “London has become even more accessible this week with two additional step-free stations”, 11 September 2026, for the opening, the lift, the footbridge, the boarding ramps, the accessible toilets, the 95th station figure, the Superloop SL9 frequency increase, the quotes from Councillor Dominic Moffitt and Stuart Harvey, the network accessibility figures and the Leyton, Burnt Oak, Alperton and Eastcote schemes.
- Transport for London, “Construction has started to provide step-free access at Northolt station”, 10 February 2025, for the start of construction, the 2020 delay, the summer 2026 completion target, the April 2025 toilet closure and the quote from Councillor Peter Mason.
- TfL step-free Tube guide, April 2026 edition, downloaded 14 September 2026, for which Underground stations are listed as step-free.
- National Rail station pages for Drayton Green, Castle Bar Park, South Greenford, Greenford, Ealing Broadway, West Ealing, Hanwell, Southall, Acton Main Line, Acton Central and South Acton, checked 14 September 2026, for the step-free category of each.
- Which stations fall inside the London Borough of Ealing was checked against the Ordnance Survey and ONS boundary data behind postcodes.io, using each station’s own coordinates from TfL’s API. East Acton and Boston Manor are excluded because they are in Hammersmith and Fulham and Hounslow respectively.
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