§ Mr. ChidgeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the impact of reduced staffing levels at railway stations on disabled access to train services. [25482]
§ Mr. WattsNone. The reduction of staffing levels at stations is a matter for individual station operators. All station operators are required to have regard to the needs of people with disabilities as a condition of being granted a licence to operate.
The Department has carried out research recently into ways of enabling disabled people to travel safely to and from unstaffed stations. Among the options considered, in consultation with disabled people, were information systems and tactile and audible signals to help visually impaired people and stair lifts to provide access between platforms for people with walking difficulty. Other equipment, such as train-mounted ramps, has been used successfully at unstaffed stations by train operating companies.