Improving assisted travel

• Increase the reliability of assistance for disabled passengers by introducing a new standardised handover process for all GB mainline stations, in tandem with new arrangements to strengthen communication between stations and measures to introduce greater accountability for assistance provision.
• Improve accessible journey planning by standardising key station accessibility information on facilities, step-free access and staffing to provide a better and more accurate picture of what disabled passengers can expect at each station.
• Strengthen train and station operators’ training of staff in disability awareness, including involving disabled people in its delivery and requiring staff to have refresher training at least every two years. This will ensure disabled passengers, including those with non-visible disabilities, receive a better, more consistent service from all staff whether they book assistance in advance or request assistance on arrival at the station.
• Reduce the notice period for booking assistance, previously up to 24 hours before travel. We now require operators to enable:
  • booking by 10pm the night before travel by April 2020;
  • booking a minimum of 6 hours before travel by April 2021; and
  • booking a minimum of 2 hours before travel by April 2022.
• Improving the ability for passengers to receive redress when booked assistance fails (e.g. compensation).
• Standardise and improve information for passengers, including provision at staffed stations of a concise, easy-to-read passenger leaflet focused on what to expect before travelling, at the station, on the train and if things do not go as planned.
• Involve disabled people in a meaningful way in the development and review of operator policies and training, so that the view of passenger champions, local communities and user groups are considered.
• Maximise the use of accessible vehicles for rail replacement services, by introducing new rules that require operators to take appropriate steps to secure accessible rail replacement services via contract tenders.

Each train and station operator are required to have an Accessible Travel Policy (ATP). The ATP must set out the operator’s commitments and standards of service provision and provide a high standard of service for rail passengers with disabilities. The information must be set out as four documents, as shown in the image below, and be approved by ORR.

Read more about ORR's role in the approval of ATP's.

Before our 2018 consultation, we created an advisory group to help us update the 2009 DPPP guidance. The advisory group was made up of organisations that represent the interests of people with disabilities and the Disability Rail Sector Champion, as well as industry bodies such as the Rail Delivery Group, Transport Focus and the Department for Transport.

The advisory group met three times in the summer of 2018 to discuss the key issues identified by ORR and to provide advice on our plans for further public discussions on:

• Updating the existing requirements as set out in the DPPP Guidance
• Plans for new requirements to be set out in the DPPP Guidance
• The format and structure of DPPPs, including any suggestions for change
• How improvement to Assisted Travel as discussed in ORR’s recent consultation can be put into practice through changes to the DPPP Guidance
• What further evidence, investigation or engagement may be needed to develop the new DPPP Guidance or improvement to Assisted Travel more generally

Terms of Reference

Assisted Travel Advisory Group - Terms of Reference

Group Members

• Fiona Walshe: Department for Transport
• David Mapp: Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee
• James Taylor: Disability Charities Consortium
• Craig O’Beirne: Rail Delivery Group
• Stephen Brookes MBE: Rail Sector Disability Champion
• Phil Wilks: Transport Focus
• Chris Clark:Transport Scotland
• Stephen Chamberlain: Welsh Assembly Government

Meeting notes

• 3 July 2018 meeting minutes
• 5 June 2018 meeting minutes
• 31 July 2018 meeting notes

We have created an Accessible Travel Stakeholder Forum to help us deliver our vision of a railway network where passengers can request assistance with confidence and ease, safe in the knowledge that it will be provided reliably, effectively, and consistently by staff that have the training and knowledge to do so with confidence and skill.

The forum comprises representatives from key stakeholders that work on behalf of people with a wide range of impairments from across Great Britain. The forum meets biannually to provide advice to ORR on accessibility issues and explore opportunities for ORR to further promote the interests of disabled passengers.

Group members

• Alzheimer’s Society
• Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC)
• Leonard Cheshire
• Mobility Access Committee for Scotland (MACS)
• Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)
• Shaw Trust
• Scope
• Rail Sector Champion, Stephen Brookes MBE
• Transport for All

Meeting notes

• October 2024 minutes
• April 2024 minutes
• October 2023 minutes
• May 2023 minutes
• November 2022 minutes
• March 2022 minutes
• October 2021 minutes
• March 2021 minutes
• September 2020 minutes
• February 2020 minutes

Terms of Reference

• Terms of Reference of ORR Accessible Travel Stakeholder Forum

To help develop our thinking, we worked closely with all train and station operators, as well as groups that represent the interests of people with disabilities, including:

• Railway Safety and Standards Board (RSSB)
• Rail Delivery Group (RDG)
• Rail Sector Disability Champion
• The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC)
• The Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS)
• Transport Focus
• Network Rail
• The UK Department for Transport
• Transport Scotland
• The Welsh Assembly Government