Assisted travel
Helping everyone to travel safely, in comfort and with confidence.
Passenger Assist
Passenger Assist is a service we’re proud to offer at all our managed stations to support older customers, disabled customers, or those with reduced mobility. Our friendly team is here to help you navigate the station, board and alight the train, find your seat, and use a ramp if needed. Wheelchairs are available at all our managed stations, and at some locations, we also provide buggies to assist with long distances between meeting points and platforms.
You can book Passenger Assist in advance, up to 2 hours before your train departs, to ensure everything is ready for your journey. Alternatively, you can arrive at the station at least 20 minutes before your train departs and request assistance, and we’ll do our best to help.
If you need help with luggage, our team is happy to assist within the guidelines set by the National Rail Conditions of Travel, which allow customers to bring up to three items of luggage. However, if any item is excessively heavy or exceeds these limits, staff may not be able to assist for safety reasons. For detailed information about luggage allowances, we recommend checking with your train operator when booking assistance. All other passengers are responsible for their own luggage. In some stations you can make use of luggage trolleys.
We’re committed to making your journey as smooth and comfortable as possible, so please don’t hesitate to let us know how we can help!
How to book Passenger Assist
To book Passenger Assist for your next journey you can contact the train company you are starting your journey with, or check out the National Rail Enquiries assisted travel pages.
The National Rail Enquiries website has information on how to book assistance in a variety of ways, including the Passenger Assistance Smartphone App. It also has detailed information on the accessibility of all stations.
You can also call or text National Rail Enquiries to arrange assistance
- call 0800 0223720
- text 60083
- textphone or minicom users can dial 0845 60 50 600.
‘Turn Up and Go’ assistance services
‘Turn Up and Go’ is a service available for passengers who need assistance and have not booked in advance. You can find out more about this service on National Rail Enquiries assisted travel pages.
Redress
We aim for passengers to have the best possible experience at our railway stations. If assistance has been booked but has not been provided as confirmed by the operator, passengers can submit a claim for redress to the operator of the train they were travelling on, or due to travel on, when the failure took place.
We will provide any information needed to help operators investigate a passenger’s claim for redress about failed passenger assistance. Passengers can also submit complaints about other elements of service or facilities at our managed stations, not related to failed passenger assistance on our Making a complaint page.
Our complaints handling procedure sets out more detail on what you can expect from us. You can find this here: Network Rail Complaint Handling Procedure.
Network Rail is a member of the Rail Ombudsman scheme meaning passengers have the right to contact the ombudsman if they are not satisfied with our response, and we will comply with its decisions.
The Sunflower scheme
All train operators in Britain recognise the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme.
By wearing the Sunflower lanyard you can discreetly indicate to our staff that you may need additional support or a little more time.
Sunflower lanyards are available in participating managed stations – if you are travelling through our stations you can ask a member of staff for one. You can also download the exemption card below to print off or display on your phone.
There is no requirement to carry an exemption card or wear a lanyard, but this may help some passengers feel more confident when travelling.