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Government backs projects to improve rail experiences for disabled passengers

23rd July 2018

 

Seven innovative projects have won a government-funded competition that all look to improve rail journeys for disabled passengers.

The purpose of the competition, run by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), was to discover creative solutions to the challenges disabled passengers face on a daily basis on UK railways, particularly for those with less visible or ‘hidden’ impairments and illnesses.

Some of the winning projects include Signly, which uses an advanced software within an app to give deaf and hard of hearing passengers access to signed travel and safety notices directly to their smartphone device.

Another of the winning projects is Nodality, a website which offers a range of train station accessibility information to help carers and disabled passengers who rely on stairlifts to plan their journey more effectively.According to Global Rail Review, the rest of the winning projects will share £600,000 in funding, and include:

  • Accessibility Evaluation Survey for Stations (ACCESS): A tool to help those responsible for station accessibility to identify problems and prioritise improvements
  • Less Visible Impairments (LVIS): A study to be carried out into increasing frontline staff’s understanding about the difficulties faced by passengers with hidden disabilities, such as dementia
  • Rail4All: An app to help station staff prioritise requests from disabled passengers and notify the user that their request for support has been received
  • Accessible Journey Pocket Assistant: A journey planner giving passengers bespoke guidance for every step of their trip
  • Aubin: An app designed to improve rail journeys for people with autism by using stress-related preferences, rather than time or cost, to help the user reach their destination.

Transport Accessibility Minister, Nusrat Ghani, is hoping the projects can help remove any barriers faced by disabled passengers. “Everyone deserves the right to travel independently and with confidence. I am delighted that these innovative projects have been picked to improve people’s journeys, and look forward to seeing how they benefit passengers in the years to come.”

To find out more about the competition and the winning projects, visit the RSSB’s competition page.

This news article is from Handicare UK. Articles that appear on this website are for information purposes only.