Platform for Change: New RNIB report reveals barriers to accessible train travel for blind and partially sighted people

What you told us

The Platform for Change report is based on a survey of nearly 1,200 blind and partially sighted people across the UK, alongside focus groups. The findings are clear: more than one in three people with sight loss can’t make the train journeys they want or need to. Each aspect of train travel can be inconsistent and stressful. Only 44 per cent told us that they are reliably met by assistance staff, and 82 per cent said they struggle with the gap between the train and platform edge.

2025 marked 200 years of the railway in Britain, and yet, even after so much time, the system regularly misses opportunities to meet the needs of passengers at each stage of the journey: from planning travel to buying tickets, navigating stations and trains, or interacting with staff for the assistance that is so often essential in completing a journey.

Blind and partially sighted people’s most common barriers to rail travel included

• Navigating within train stations.
• Locating / identifying staff at train stations.
• Everything to do with tickets – not just buying them, but then managing them: using them to operate ticket barriers, keeping track of them, and finding the correct ticket when staff ask.
• Staying safe on the platform.
• Boarding the train – finding the door, finding your seat.
• Orienting within the train – where’s the buffet car? Which side will the train doors open on?
• Locating and using train toilets, which can be so difficult that some blind and partially sighted people choose not to travel rather than having to deal with them.
• Coping with disruptions to the journey, like delays, cancellations, or the train having to stop somewhere other than the destination you need.

Lucy Edwards, broadcaster, disability activist and content creator, said:

“Our experiences as rail passengers are vital to our ability and willingness to get out and about: trains allow blind and partially sighted people to do everything from daily commutes to travelling across the country.”

Read the full report Platform for Change report (PDF)

Read the full Platform for Change report (Word)

How to make train travel more accessible

RNIB Policy Lead, Erik Matthies, who has sight loss, said:

“With the creation of Great British Railways (GBR) via the Railways Bill that is currently going through Parliament, there’s a unique opportunity for the UK Government and transport authorities to embed accessibility from the start - to make sure everyone can travel freely and safely. We’re calling on the UK Government, devolved administrations, and transport providers to ensure accessibility is at the heart of GBR as it is rolled out.

“Ticketing should be simplified and all concessions made available online and at stations so that people with sight loss can buy the right ticket at the right price. Staff training should be improved to ensure consistent passenger assistance, and stations and trains need to become more accessible, incorporating tactile wayfinding and improving the prevalence of accessible on-board facilities like toilets and audible announcements.”

Read more on this series of reports

This report is the third in a series showing how blind and partially sighted people experience three modes of getting around. It follows the In My Way report on pedestrian journeys (September 2025) and the ‘All aboard?’ report on bus travel (May 2025), all of which collectively paint a picture of the most popular ways to travel still not working for people with sight loss.

Thank you to those who took the time to complete RNIB’s Big Travel Survey early in 2025. These reports are the result of your passion to make travel and transport more accessible.