Access and assistance
Assistance is arranged by telling a person at a station, by setting the flag on a card, or by the short code 118. Article 63 makes provision that meets a disability part of the essential provision itself.
- 122 stations step-free
- 23 with a ramp only
- 0 hours notice required
- 2 wide-door rooms per sleeper
Three ways to ask
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Tell a person
Anyone in the uniform of a route group can arrange it, and will do it on the spot.
At a halt, the telephone in the shelter reaches the duty office of the group that operates the line.
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Set the flag on the card
A machine can write an assistance flag to the EEPROM. If it is written, the gate holds open longer and announces the platform staff that help was asked for.
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Call 118
The short code reaches a person at the route group. They arrange the ramp, the space and the meeting at the far end, and read back what they have arranged.
On the station
| Fitting | Stations | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Step-free to every platform | 119 | Lift, ramp or level crossing of the track under supervision. |
| Ramp only, gradient over 6 per cent | 23 | Staff push where asked. Some are in the works programme for a lift before 2030. |
| Tactile edge on every platform | 145 | Fitted throughout by 2019. |
| Audible train announcements | 110 | All halts have a board and a bell, but most do not have vocal announcements. |
| Boarding ramp kept at the station | 145 | Every station is equipped with one, including the halts. |
On the train
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Wheelchair spaces
Two in every unit, four on the R7 and R9, beside a companion seat and a door with a call button. The spaces are not bookable because they are not given away to anyone else.
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Level boarding
The R8 and later have a low floor at 550 mm, which meets the platform at 122 stations. Elsewhere staff bring the ramp, which takes about a minute.
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Sleeper rooms
Two rooms in each sleeper car have a wide door and a bunk at platform height. They are held for whoever needs them until the train leaves.
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Assistance dogs
You can travel anywhere on the network, including the sleeper, using assistance dogs, provided you respect the rules on the page about the conditions of the carriage.
Reading and hearing
Type size is a setting on the card. Standard, large and largest are written to the EEPROM at a machine, and every machine and gate panel in the Republic then draws at that size. A station worker will set it for anyone who asks.
The gate tone can be turned off, or its pitch changed. Also on the card, for anyone whom the standard tone is hard to hear or hard to bear.
Twelve languages. The panels support twelve and fall back to Fluidian and English. The card answers in the language written to it, at every machine, without being asked again.
The boards and the application match. What the platform board shows is also what the application shows, so a person who cannot read the board from where they stand has the same figures in their hand.