TRAIN operators have done a U-turn over platform changes at Marsden station.
The move comes after mounting public pressure, coupled with an accident involving an elderly rail passenger over the weekend.
Westbound services from Huddersfield to Manchester are once again stopping at easy access platform three rather than platform two.
News of the changes announced today were welcomed by campaigners.
It followed an accident on Saturday when a female pensioner fell headlong from a stationary carriage on to the station concourse.
Elaine Wilkinson, 74, of Mount Road, Marsden, was returning from a shopping trip with her daughter Denise Mehrgan when she lost her footing stepping from the train at about 4.20pm.
She was rushed to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with a broken nose and suspected fractured cheekbone.
Train company First North Western had been using the unpopular platform two for over a month.
Unlike platform three - designed for the elderly, infirm and disabled - there is a two-foot gap from the train down to the platform.
Carrying bags of shopping, she tried to step down on to the platform. "I thought it looked a long way down but I just got off and the next thing I know I'm falling across the platform and down I went."
"I lost a lot of blood. It just poured from me. It was terrible," said the sprightly pensioner.
She is now considering legal action.
Members of Marsden Toddlers' Group said the accident had forced First North Western into the re-think.
"We made them realise how hard it is for many people to cope with the steps and the big drop. It's sad to think it took an accident to make them reconsider, but it's fantastic they've listened at last," said Gill Harrison.
Fellow campaigner Fiona Weir added: "Now all westbound trains will use platform three again. It's a victory for people power."
Clr David Ridgway, who sits on the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, said: "Without the work of the Marsden group who have campaigned to have this changed, neither First North Western nor Network Rail would have had the slightest idea there was a problem."
A spokeswoman for Network Rail said the platform changes came into effect last Sunday with the introduction of a new timetable.
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