WELCOME TO HEATON CHAPEL STATION
THESE SMELLY BINS ARE WHAT NOW GREET OUR ~1,000,000 PASSENGERS EACH YEAR.
1.
Empty station bin
Station bin yard, out of sight, on Tatton Road North
2. Blocked gulleys on both platforms; in heavy rain, these flood an create lagoons on the platforms.
3. Dark unattractive area adjacent to the ramp to platform 2 under Heaton Moor Road bridge
4. Pigeons are a serious problem on ramp 2 under the bridge. The handrail is usually covered in guano as several dozen pigeons roost on the bridge girders above.
Attempts to rid them using spikes have failed; probably the netting of all of this under-bridge are will be the only long-term solution.
5. Broken asbestos cable box with exposed power cables
6. Leaking roofs over stairways down to both platforms 1 & 2
7. Station vandalism [comes in phases, no major incidents since 2014].
8.Disabled access - Access-for-All
Heaton Chapel Station has around 1,000,000 passengers a year and it is by far the busiest railway station in the whole of Greater Manchester still without disabled access, although now wheelchair passengers can now access the booking hall with the new automatic doors and lowered counter to enable them to buy a railway ticket.
FofHCS have been informed that it could now be upto 2026, or even later, before a new lift down to platform 2 and a new disabled ramp down with a gradient of => 1 in 20 to platform 1 might be installed. The DoT are involved in the decision process chosing which stations are upgraded nationally.