Increasing efforts have been made over the past few years by State Railways to make rail travel accessible to disabled and elderly passengers. Now, with the onset of deregulation and privatisation, such responsibility passes to individual Train Operation Companies, operating to commercial objectives. This paper examines the issues and practicalities resulting from this change, and draws on work being carried out both within the UK on the development of a disabled person's protection policy and also at the European strategic level with UIC (Union International de Chemin de Fer) on future policy within this area. The issues discussed include meeting the needs of disabled and elderly passengers, passengers, not only in respect of train boarding and on-board facilities, but also: information prior to and during travel; ticketing; station accessibility; interoperability; and transfer to other transport modes at both ends. This is set against a framework which requires commercially acceptable solutions, and discusses inter alia the prospects for increased passenger patronage through meeting latent demand. (A)
Abstract