People unable to use trains due to a lack of disabled access facilities at Farnborough Main  station will have to wait until next year for a solution.

Because there is no lift at the station, disabled and elderly passengers unable to use the bridge are forced to travel to other stations complete their journey.

The company responsible for the station’s infrastructure, Network Rail, has said it will start work on a bridge early next year but the project could take until 2011 to complete.

Farnborough commuter Francis Phillips said people unable to get to the platforms were having to travel as far as Basingstoke in order to get the right train.

“At Farnborough Main train station there is no lift for people to get to platform one,” said Mr Phillips.

“If people who cannot use the bridge want to get the fast train to London they have to get the train down to Basingstoke and connect there.

“I have a friend who has to go to the station at Fleet to get to Farnborough Main. In March 2006 we were promised that high volume stations such Farnborough Main would be given better facilities as a matter of priority.

“But I have been strung along by various people saying that the project will be started when they always intended to start in 2009.”

Director of Age Concern Hampshire, Chris Perry, said the access problem could leave some of the borough’s elderly people more isolated.

“People need to use the trains whatever their age,” he said. “Lack of transport can cause great social isolation for elderly people and affect their quality of life.  All public buildings must be accessible to elderly and disabled people.”

In 2006 Network Rail announced it was going to install a new lift and footbridge at the Farnborough Main station to improve access, aiming to finish the work by the end of 2009.

It argued that although money had been available for access improvements for some time, a lot of preliminary work had to be carried out before work started.

A spokesman said: “Work can’t just start. We have needed to look at options for how disabled access can be put in place. Then we have to consider design choices.

“At the moment we have decided that a lift and a footbridge would be the best options for Farnborough Main station and we are currently looking at the final design.

“We hope to start work on the station early next year. The end of next year is the current time schedule to get the work finished.”

He added: “Many of these railway stations were built in Victorian times and 150 years ago they did not take disabled access into account.

“There are a heck of a lot of that need work and we are working with the government to rectify the situation.”

Deputy leader of Rushmoor Borough Council and environment portfolio holder Cllr Roland Dibbs welcomed Network Rail’s plans for the lift.

He was happy the work was going to go ahead and under-stood it was part of a large programme of improvements.

He added: ““This is something that I desperately want to see happen and it is a relief to see that they have funds in place and that it is on the programme.

“If it was just Farnborough Main that needed to be done then we could tell Network Rail to ‘just get on with it’. But Farnborough Main is one of a large list of stations to be done.”

A spokesperson for South West Trains, which runs the train service, said: “In an ideal world we would like all our stations to be accessible to everyone but unfortunately the stations were built in a less enlightened age.

“But there is money available and there are improvements being made at stations and Farnborough is one of those stations that will be getting improvements.”

If you are having access difficulties at Farnborough Main station call South West Trains’ disabled access line which offers advice on journey planning. The free number is 0800 528 2100.