Making rail accessible: guide to policies and practices January 2017 Our strategy Management arrangements We are committed to continually improving The Customer Services Director is the accessibility of our services to all responsible for our Disabled People’s passengers, particularly those with Protection Policy, supported by the Head of disabilities or who simply need some Customer Service Quality. extra assistance. The Customer Services, Operations and Chiltern Railways also maintains a fund for Safety, and Engineering Directors are minor improvements and are committed responsible for frontline delivery and for to working with Network Rail to support ensuring the arrangements described in the development of delivery of Access this policy are delivered at stations and on for All and Inclusive Design schemes in trains. accordance with the Design Standards for Accessible Railway Stations (DfT Through our governance arrangements this March 2015). More details on station policy has been approved by the Executive projects involving Network Rail can be Team and signed off by the Managing found at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/ Director. improvements/access-for-all/ We have a number of communication For smaller projects, such as refurbishments and training arrangements in place to of station buildings, the DfT Design communicate the requirements of this Standards are continually consulted policy to frontline staff. Our team briefing throughout the project scoping and process provides a high-level brief to all construction process and passenger’s employees of the company regardless of opinions are gained through an early their role and this is supported by face to consultation process. face briefing by line managers. Aside from physical adjustments to stations All frontline staff who are likely to and rolling stock, we regularly review our have a direct role in the delivery of the arrangements with a variety of stakeholder arrangements described in this policy groups such as our Passenger Board have attended a ‘Disability Awareness which contains experts on mobility issues, Training’ course within the last two years. statutory consultation bodies such as Separately all new entrants to the business Transport Focus and London TravelWatch, (regardless of role) receive classroom our industry representative body RDG and training as part of the company induction individual interest groups. training arrangements. chilternrailways.co.uk To ensure that the business and senior Monitoring and evaluation managers receive feedback on the Our Head of Customer Service Quality will effective delivery of the arrangements review our Disabled People’s Protection described in this policy, frontline staff are Policy annually with the amended policy required to report any issues encountered being formally approved by the Executive by disabled customers when using our Team. network to our 24 hour Control Office. These issues are reviewed by senior The Head of Stations and on train service management team on a daily conference reports on statistics including the following: call attended by representatives from all operational departments of the business. • The number of assistance requests received Our Customer Relations team monitors • he number of complaints regarding our all customer complaints and comments services to disabled customers relating to the services we provide to • The number of customer service staff disabled customers. Each person who having completed the necessary training contacts Customer Relations will have one point of contact within the team for In addition to this the Head of Business consistency throughout their discussions. Assurance undertakes audits of our The feedback and complaints are passed compliance with this policy. The data to the Head of Stations and on train collected from these sources will be used service reports, local management and to evaluate the effectiveness of our policy the Customer Service Safety & Standards and ensure that any deficiencies in our Manager for investigation. The outcomes arrangements are identified and resolved. of the investigation are used in training Where appropriate the Executive Team will and to help inform staff who carry out the ensure that the relevant directors implement disabled assists. corrective action if any deficiencies in our arrangements are identified. Whilst Chiltern Railways do not specifically track the return on investment of Passengers who have booked assistance improvements for disabled people we do through Passenger Assist (and have have regular meetings with our Passenger agreed to be contacted) will be contacted Board, Rail User Groups and local interest and asked to complete an on line survey groups. regarding the service we have provided. chilternrailways.co.uk All comments will be monitored and Code regarding: appropriate actions will be taken where • New or enhanced station facilities assistance has not been provided to the • Refurbishment of existing rolling stock expected level. The survey can be found • Station or on-train services at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ ChilternCustomerAssistance In these cases Chiltern Railways will approach the DfT to seek dispensation In addition to these measures our from the relevant section of the Code at Complaints Handling Procedure is the earliest possible stage after all other designed to highlight any individual possible options have been considered. accessibility issues identified by members of the public to the relevant manager for A number of access improvement schemes resolution. The feedback received from have been completed over the last 12 customers is used to guide us in training months, including: the station teams in order to provide the best quality of service possible. • New benches at all of our stations, to replace those which no longer complied Before publication our DPPP will be with the DfT’s standards sent annually to the ORR for review and • One fully accessible brand new station approval. built in 2015 (Oxford Parkway). • Two existing stations completely rebuilt Access improvements to be fully accessible (Islip and Bicester Village, previously called Bicester Town). Chiltern Railways is committed to making • New and additional seating at all of our every possible effort to meet the standards stations. of the DfT’s 2015 Code of Practice for • New mobility assistance buggies Train and Station Services for Disabled purchased for Marylebone Station to Passengers and the PRM-TSI regulations. enhance the customer experience. Our intention is that legal compliance • Accessible booking office window will be a minimum standard. Wherever installed at Haddenham and Thame possible, Chiltern Railways will adopt Parkway a best-practice approach to access for • All future major projects at stations disabled passengers. in conjunction with Network Rail will feature the “Inclusive Design for All” However, there may occasionally be process at the development stage. circumstances where Chiltern Railways is unable to comply fully with the chilternrailways.co.uk Working with others Staff training We remain in regular contact with key All new staff receive disability training stakeholders through our quarterly as part of their company induction. Passenger Board meetings. This Our training provides delegates with provides an opportunity for us to update information on our legal obligations stakeholders on key issues affecting our to customers and staff and covers the network and gain their support for our key following areas: projects. The membership of this forum • Disability and discrimination, including includes Local Authorities and statutory the Equality Act bodies such as London TravelWatch. • The Passengers with Reduced Mobility –Technical Specification of We consult the statutory bodies such as Interoperability Rail Vehicle Regulations Transport Focus and London Travelwatch (PRM-TSI) as well as our Passenger Board on the • The effects of different types of disability content of our improvements programmes. • Disabled customers using the Chiltern We also maintain a regular dialogue Railways network with our local Rail User Groups where we • Communication with disabled customers endeavour to attend their local meetings. and colleagues We also regularly engage with bodies We include in our training a number such as Age UK, Scope and RNIB via the of simulated and practical activities, trade body the Rail Delivery Group (RDG). including: For new projects at stations involving • Methods of leading people with visual Network Rail we fully endorse the Inclusive impairments Design programme and encourage • Assisting wheelchair users on and off the the process from the project discussion train and in station lifts. phase. This will ensure that the design of mainstream structures or services are Members of staff in customer facing roles accessible to, and usable by, as many and those who use the telephone to speak people as reasonably possible, in a wide with customers are provided with specific variety of situations and to the greatest training to assist them understand the extent possible without the need for special importance of: adaptation or specialised design. • clarity of speech • timeliness • intonation • language • emphasis chilternrailways.co.uk This training is designed to raise customers. We seek to make disabled awareness of potential communication people aware of our services by issues and emphasise how ineffective methods including advertising, sending communication can impact upon disabled information