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| Poster by Hong Kong PHAB Association |
Firstly, I'm not a wheelchair user, and I have no experience travelling on public transport using a wheelchair.
I've been seeing stories of wheelchair users getting trapped in the train after arriving at the station due to the absence of platform staff, which caused them delays and distress in their journeys.
In one incident that has been widely reported on the news, a former Paralympian named Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson was forced to "crawl off" an LNER train arriving at London's King's Cross railway station due to missed assistance where station staff was supposed to deploy a wheelchair ramp for her to exit the train. As stated on X (formerly known as Twitter), a cleaner would like to help her deploy a wheelchair ramp but is not insured to do that procedure.
A video posted on YouTube by Doug Paulley shows one person at Leeds Station trapped in a train without staff assistance to deploy a wheelchair ramp. He had to pull the emergency door open handle to prevent the train from leaving the station and to alert the driver. Unfortunately, the driver is not able to deploy the wheelchair ramp to help him off the train.
The delay had caused him to miss his bus connection home and had to use a wheelchair-accessible taxi to travel home.
Brief advice
The advice from Alan Benson (RIP), which is to pull the emergency alarm and a green door open handle (some trains may not have them) to alert the driver that assistance for the wheelchair user is not present at the station where they are expecting to exit.
Advice to wheelchair users: if you don't have a signal on your mobile phone, in an emergency, dial 112; it's an international GSM mobile number that redirects to the emergency services, such as 999 in the UK and Ireland and 911 in North America. Your mobile phone will find a signal from another mobile network to connect your call to the emergency services, with or without a SIM card.
You can make a subject access request to obtain CCTV and bodycam footage of yourself with the train operating company, transport authority, and a bus operating company.
Update: I have provided further advice for wheelchair users travelling by rail in a separate article.
My suggestions to improve wheelchair accessibility for rail travel
Other station staff, including security guards, cleaners, etc., should be trained and insured to provide assistance to wheelchair users by deploying a ramp once there's no immediate presence of station staff.
The same procedure should apply to train drivers, conductors, and similar front-line personnel; there’s a list of railway industry occupations on Wikipedia. It is important that they are properly trained to use these ramps to provide wheelchair assistance at railway stations.
When a train arrives at the station terminus, after the passengers exit the train, a member of staff and driver should check every carriage to see if there’s anyone left behind. The procedure is used by London Buses and Underground staff when the bus and train are at the terminus, as I have mentioned about it on X.
There should be a procedure that the Underground and TfL Buses use where a member of staff checks the terminated train/bus for passengers and wheelchair users.https://t.co/U8tSbhEDUS
— CLondoner92 (@CLondoner92) August 27, 2024
All types of staff at stations should be trained to assist wheelchair users in these situations. https://t.co/gga72nN5YI pic.twitter.com/uyu9puUvWZ
Another idea to improve the operation for wheelchair users is that when a wheelchair user boards the train, a member of the station staff notifies the driver and the railway controllers over the radio which station the wheelchair user is heading to.
A special blue light on the exterior of the train switches on to tell station staff there is a wheelchair user inside the train; it can be used for the Underground services.
The railway controller should add a wheelchair symbol onto the headcode of the train journey of the railway data feeds that a wheelchair user is on board and include their destination.
At the station where the wheelchair user is expected to exit the train. The train on the departure board shows a wheelchair symbol, and the announcement for the approaching train should mention that the wheelchair user is expecting to exit, as it will notify the staff to get the wheelchair ramp ready.
This is why additional reminders should be included so the staff does not miss out on the requirement on deploying a wheelchair ramp for a journey with a wheelchair user.
As there are various numbers of stations with level boarding, the procedure should also be used for accessible stations, which require a wheelchair ramp to be deployed.
There’s a similar procedure used by a bus operating company in Hong Kong, where their accessible app provides information on the availability of wheelchair spaces for each of the buses.
Hong Kong: KMB and LWB to offer free rides for Disabled on International Day of Persons with Disabilities Be rest assured with Boarding and Alighting Reminder functions on App1933https://t.co/nMl5i16M2W pic.twitter.com/nRSt1HMnuj
— CLondoner92 (@CLondoner92) November 10, 2022
Not all wheelchair users are able to use the internet and make a phone call, especially for overseas visitors, where some are unable to use the internet on their smartphone due to expensive roaming fees imposed by their mobile network provider from their home country and the international calls needed to contact train operating companies. That is why I have raised that issue in my article because technology should have no borders when it comes to accessing information and communication.
I also see posts on social media where wheelchair users have issues with lift breakdowns.
As I stated on X, TfL and Network Rail should have lift engineers on standby, and they can be called up to a station to provide urgent repairs to the lift when needed. The engineers should be part of the staff concessions, so they don't have to rely on getting reimbursed by their company.
According to TfL, the website states:
Lifts out of service
If you arrive at a Tube, Elizabeth line or Overground station and the lift is unavailable, staff will help you to plan an alternative step-free journey to your destination. If there isn't a reasonable alternative route, we'll book you an accessible taxi (at our cost).
The taxi can take you to another step-free station from where you can continue your journey or to your destination station within the Greater London area - whichever is quicker and more convenient for you. This could be a could be a Tube, London Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR or National Rail station.
Why is level boarding important?
It helps wheelchair and pushchair users to board and exit the train with ease and without assistance.
I have seen issues with larger gaps at platforms of various stations where passengers trip over, causing delays to railway services, which increases pressure on the staff and the emergency services.
This is why level boarding is also the solution to help reduce injuries and delays, as it will help reduce pressure for the staff and the emergency services.
You can read more on the Level Boarding campaign website.
Taking a look at the Freedom of Information request to TfL, where they provided a detailed response on wheelchair accessibility for the London Underground, as the information was published in late 2022 and may be outdated.
Request ID: FOI-1895-2223
Date published: 29 November 2022
- How many station assistants, as a number and a percentage of total station assistants currently employed on the London Underground, have completed training and are qualified to operate the manual boarding ramps used to assist wheelchair users onto trains?
It is the Customer Service Manager’s responsibility that all staff at a station where there is a boarding ramp are briefed.
Station locations that have boarding ramps have a local Boarding Ramp Briefing Champion whose responsibility it is to brief customer service staff in that location so they are familiar with the boarding ramp and how to deploy it safely for customers.
Boarding Ramp Briefing Champions ensure that any new members of staff joining the team are briefed; they also conduct boarding ramp refresher briefings to ensure everyone continues to be familiar with the boarding ramp and its safe deployment.
We do not, however, record information on staff that have received this briefing, and therefore cannot provide you with the number/percentage requested.
- How many station assistants have completed the training and re-training for the previous five full calendar years, plus any partial data available for 2022?
As explained above, this information is not recorded.
A boarding ramp briefing typically takes about 30 minutes and consists of the Boarding Ramp Briefing Champion (someone who has previously attended a briefing session for that particular type of boarding ramp) going through the following:
• Showing how the boarding ramp can safely be released (and returned) to storage using a J-Door key
• How to transport the boarding ramp to the required usage location on the platform (and back from when completed) and where that location is for a given line of rolling stock
• Management of local crowding around the area where the boarding ramp is to be deployed when the train stops
• Advising the Train Operator of proposed boarding ramp deployment and confirming to them when operation is completed
• Deploying the boarding ramp and ensuring proper engagement (where required) and assisting customer on or off the train.
Once this is done there is a question and answer session and then participants are encouraged to use and deploy the boarding ramp themselves to practice using it (this is not mandatory).
Once completed all attendees can then cascade the briefing as a demonstrator to other operational colleagues as and when time and other duties allow.
Individual stations/groups nominate a “Boarding Ramp Briefing Champion” (typically a Customer Service Manager) who ensures that every group member is briefed. Staff should only attempt to use a particular boarding ramp when they have been briefed in its use.
- How many stations on the London Underground network are equipped with a manual boarding ramp?
There are approximately 101 London Underground stations that operate boarding ramps.
Eighty stations have boarding ramps as part of our step-free access infrastructure to provide step-free access routes and/or interchanges. The remaining 21 stations operate boarding ramps for other purposes (i.e. to assist local staff in ‘emergency’ situations at stations where trains are regularly terminated or reversed).
- The number of stations on the network that are incompatible with manual boarding ramps.
This information is not held.
We will install a boarding ramp if this is possible to improve step-free access and/or to improve customer safety as outlined below. They are some different boarding ramp designs including slanted ones for use in more physically challenging platform locations.
There are locations where Manual Boarding Ramps cannot be used due to excessive platform train interface step height (making the boarding ramp too long for safe use), limited platform space or possibly an obstruction (such as seating or a structural column) in the required usage location. Whilst this information is not recorded, we estimate there may be five to ten platforms where boarding ramps have not been possible for these reasons.
We have also launched a trial of a new bridging device as part of our ongoing work to make London’s transport network more accessible and inclusive. The trial will take place at eight Jubilee line stations until February 2023 including London Bridge, Canary Wharf and Green Park. The specially commissioned device has been designed to provide additional support, comfort and reassurance to customers at step free stations where there remains a small gap between the platform and train. If the trial is successful, TfL will consider extending the device across the London Underground and wider TfL network.
You can read more about assistance for the disabled and wheelchair users, especially with the regulations and turn-up and go service on TfL, National Rail, Network Rail, the UK Government, and the Office of Road and Rail websites.
If you have experienced issues such as discrimination, there’s a list of organisations and law firms on the advice and information page of the Disability News Service website.
I invite you to follow me on X by searching for @CLondoner92 or by clicking on the direct link to my X page here. I'm also on BlueSky and Mastodon.
Further reading
Fact Check: Wheelchair Users ♿ Get Free Travel And Priority On London Buses
Fact Check: Disabled And Older People's English Bus Pass (ENCTS) Users Are Valid On London Buses
My Suggestions To Help Create The Most Accessible Zero-Emission Bus For London And Elsewhere!
