The RSSB’s Rail Accessibility Competition winners were announced this week by The Department for Transport. Seven future lead, high-tech schemes looked at developing disabled access to the UK railways.

The competition offers grants to any organisation or individual who can come up with an idea that can make an assured difference to the lives of disabled passengers who use the railway to travel.

The competition, which launched in September 2017, run by RSSB was funded by the government, and supported by industry and disability groups.

The aim of the competition was to achieve overall access to the railways for disabled people, and to contribute a better, safer railway.

The winning projects, who will all receive a share of the £600,000 funding are:

• Accessibility Evaluation Survey for Stations (ACCESS)

This is a tool which will aid those responsible for railway station accessibility identify problems and prioritise improvements.

• Less Visible Impairments (LVIS)

A study to be carried out that ensures an increased understanding amongst frontline staff about the difficulties faced by passengers with hidden disabilities. These can include disabilities such as dementia, chronic pain or fatigue, and mental illness.

• Rail4All

An app which helps station staff prioritise requests from disabled passengers and can notify the user that their request for support has been received.

• Accessible Journey Pocket Assistant

A journey planner that gives passengers individual guidance for every step of their journey.

• Nodality (Navigating Transport Interchange)

A website that disabled passengers and carers can use, that provides them with all necessary information they need to know about how accessible a station is.

• Signly

An app that helps improve the communication and passenger experience for those who use sign language to communicate.

• Aubin

A rail journey app for sufferers of autism which uses a stress related preference system, rather than time and cost, to help users reach their destination without incident.

We install platform lifts at a number of different location to help improve the accessibility for disabled people.