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Disabled
People’s
Protection Policy
Making rail accessible: guide to
policies and practices
Valid from November 2014
c2c Rail Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of National Express plc.
Contents Introduction
Page
3
1. Our Strategy
4
2. Management Arrangements
6
3. Monitoring and Evaluation
6
4. Access Improvements
7
Table 63
8
Table 65
9
5. Working with others
11
6. Staff Training
11
7. Emergency Procedures
12
8. Communication Strategy
12
9. Car parking
13
Appendix A – Recent Accessibility Improvements
14
Route Map
15
8.1 Telephone
8.2 email and Twitter messaging service
8.3 Website
8.4 Signage
2
Introduction
Welcome to ‘Making Rail Accessible: guide to policies and
practices’, which together with our other publication ‘Making
Rail Accessible: helping older and disabled passengers’
comprises c2c’s Disabled People’s Protection Policy (DPPP).
The content of this document is based on guidance contained
in:
• ‘Accessible Train Station Design for Disabled Passengers –
A Code of Practice’, issued by the Department for Transport
(DfT).
• ‘How to Write Your Disabled People’s Protection Policy,
published by the DfT in November 2009.
These documents set out the way in which we are meeting the
needs of passengers with disabilities or those who may need
assistance when using our network.
They also set out our customer service commitments and the
measures that we are taking to comply with the Equality Act
2010, (which replaced the Disability Discrimination Act 1995).
Both documents set out how we help disabled passengers and
those who need help to get the best from our services.
• This booklet is the ‘Policy Document’ which gives you
information on our management arrangements and
strategy. Printed copies and copies in other formats are
available on request from our Customer Relations Team.
• The other booklet is the ‘Passenger Document’ which
provides you with all you need to know in order to plan and
make a journey and this is available, on request, at all of
our staffed stations.
Both documents are also available for download from our
website in both easy read and pdf formats and we can provide
copies in other formats where necessary.
Our DPPP is subject to consultation with Passenger Focus,
London TravelWatch and the Disabled Persons Transport
Advisory Committee and the final agreed policy is approved by
the Office of Rail Regulation.
We review both documents on an annual basis and welcome
your comments and feedback which will be considered when
the documents are next reviewed.
We review and update our station accessibility information on
the National Rail website to ensure that our passengers and
other train companies making assistance bookings for our
services have up to date and accurate information.
The national rail network presents particular accessibility
challenges as most of the infrastructure was designed and
built when the needs of disabled people were not taken into
account.
3
Our commitment is to make continuous improvements to
station access, station facilities and the provision of information
to make our services more accessible to all our customers.
These improvements are particularly aimed at helping disabled
customers and others who may need assistance; for example,
older passengers or parents with prams to have a more
independent journey experience.
We have made significant improvements in this area over the
last nineteen years and we aim to continue this over the life of
the new Essex Thameside franchise.
1. Our Strategy
We are committed to putting customers at the heart of
our business and relentlessly meeting their expectations.
Specifically we recognise the needs and concerns of disabled
people when using public transport. Therefore over the life of
our franchise through a programme of enhancements we will
make our services fully accessible to all our customers from
street to platform and from platforms to trains.
Our goal is to provide a train and station network that is as
accessible as possible and we are committed to making
reasonable adjustments that will improve access to the trains
and stations which we operate. We aim to build on the success
we have had in the last nineteen years in improving our
facilities.
Over the life of the franchise we will deliver station
enhancements which will ensure Essex Thameside is fully
accessible. These enhancements will include:
• Providing step free access from street to platform
• Providing step free access from platform to train
• New or enabled lift facilities
• Harrington Humps at all stations
• Dropped/raised kerbs
• Tactile paving
• Station exit/entrance improvements
• New/enhanced pedestrian road crossing
• Designated taxi drop off
• Additional blue badge spaces
When planning projects on our network we are committed
to making sure that before implementation, the needs of
older people and those with disabilities have been taken
into consideration. We will do this by engaging with the DfT,
Passenger Focus, London Travel Watch, Disabled Persons
Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), Local Rail User
Groups, the Association of Train Operating Companies
(ATOC), our passenger panel and other focus groups in order
to identify the needs and concerns of disabled passengers
when using public transport.
Working in partnership with stakeholders we will wherever
possible, meet the needs of disabled and older passengers.
4
We also work with these and other agencies to seek funding to
support our delivery of improvements to our network.
We will review our policies annually and consider all
opportunities to incorporate the feedback from passengers and
stakeholders to help improve the services we provide.
We always try to take the needs of disabled passengers into
account and we many improvements to meet their needs
provide benefits to all passengers.
Working with other train operators through the Association of
Train Operating Companies (ATOC) we support the Journey
Planner on the National Rail Enquiries (NRE) website
www.nationalrail.co.uk. Called ‘Stations Made Easy’ it gives
passengers access to station information, diagrams of the
station and photographs of key installations. This facility
enables passengers to view station facilities and to plan their
journeys according to their disability. We maintain up to date
information on this website including notification to NRE of both
temporary and permanent changes to station facilities.
Along with other train operators we continue to maintain and
support the national Passenger Assist system (also known
as P-Assist) which allows passengers who require it, to book
assistance before travelling.
All our services are operated by modern class 357 electric
trains which have priority seats, wheelchair accessible toilets
and a designated space which can accommodate a wheelchair
or mobility scooter up to 120cm x 70cm.
We provide portable access ramps and assistance to board
and alight at all of our accessible staffed stations.
We are able to arrange assistance for customers who need
help to get on or off our trains, even at unstaffed stations where
this is booked 4 hours in advance. If we cannot provide this
we will make alternative arrangements with you including the
provision of suitable alternative transport where necessary.
24 hours notice is required if the journey involves travelling on
another operators’ services.
Our customer service staff training material will include
appropriate disability training to all our frontline and
management staff.
We monitor all aspects of our policies to make sure that they
are current and relevant to the needs of disabled customers.
5
2. Management Arrangements
Our management arrangements ensure that the needs of our
disabled passengers are fully integrated into our business.
Our Head of Customer Relationships (HoCR) is responsible for
the company’s DPPP. He ensures that the policy is integrated
into c2c business plans and improvement projects at the
planning stage and that the requirements of disabled people
are represented within the business. The HoCR will own the
company process which ensures that accessibility is taken into
account in the design and development of station improvement
projects. All customer matters are reported monthly to the
Customer Strategy Steering Group and Executive for action or
a decision.
Our HoCR also has responsibility for the day to day aspects
associated with our disability policies, the annual review of the
DPPP, the production and updating of training material based
on feedback from customers and other sources, and staff and
management briefings where appropriate.
Our Head of Human Resources (HoHR) is responsible for
ensuring the delivery of Customer Services training to all staff.
We also require Agency staff to have appropriate customer
service training which includes disability training.
3. Monitoring and Evaluation
We welcome feedback from all passengers who have booked
assistance with us by way of writing, emailing, telephoning,
face to face or filling in our ‘Comments Forms’. We seek
feedback from our Passenger Panel which is a panel of
customers who meet with c2c’s senior management team
bi-monthly. We also seek feedback from user groups such as
the Options for Independent Living (Essex County Council rail
accessibility transport group) on the services that we provide.
We encourage and support user groups carrying
out accessibility audits at our stations and use any
recommendations received to develop improvement action
plans.
Feedback from these sources is reported to our HoCR and
where necessary adjustments to our services or training are
made to ensure that any persistent failures are corrected...
As part of our monitoring arrangements, a periodic report which
shows the range of customer comments received is reviewed
by our Executive Group Board of Directors.
6
Table 65:
The Customer benefits of our station
enhancements
Dagenham Dock
Tilbury Town
Grays
Chafford Hundred
Purfleet
Ockendon
4
East Tilbury
Lift Facilities
- new or
enabled
7
Table
63
Rainham
4
4
4
4 4
4
4 4
4 4
4
4
Designated
taxi drop off
The Customer benefits of our station access
improvements
Stanford-le-Hope
4
Table 63:
4
West Ham
4
Southend Central
New /
Enhanced
road crossing
Westcliff
4
Southend East
4
Leigh-on-Sea
Station exit
/ entrance
improvements
Chalkwell
4 4
Shoeburyness
Tactile Paving
Benfleet
4
Pitsea
4 4
Every year we will publish a list of any planned improvements
and committed investment in our Annual Customer Report.
Laindon
4 4
c2c continues to make improvements to accessibility on the
route and our latest changes are shown in Appendix A.
West Horndon
Dropped /
Raised kerbs
We will always seek to comply with the Code of Practice or
legislation, and only where we cannot comply will we consult
with the DfT as part of seeking dispensation against the Code
of Practice or derogation against PRM/TSI.
Upminster
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended)
• The Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2006 (SI
2006/397)
• The Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Non Interoperable Rail
System) Regulations 2010 (“RVAR 2010”)
Basildon
Harrington
Humps
• Railways Act 1993
• The Equality Act 2010 which incorporates Disability
Limehouse
4
We will also comply with other legislation relating to disabled
people and transport, including:
West Ham
4
When making improvements to our facilities and services we
are committed to adopting the service standards and guidance
contained in the current version of DfT’s ‘Accessible Train
Station Design for Disabled People - A Code of Practice’, the
Technical Specifications for Interoperability: Persons with
Reduced Mobility 2007 (PRM/TSI) and ATOC’s Good Practice
Guide when installing or refurbishing facilities at our stations
and on our rolling stock.
Barking
4
4. Access Improvements
4
Fenchurch Street
9
Southend East
Westcliff
Southend Central
West Ham
Stanford-le-Hope
Dagenham Dock
Tilbury Town
Grays
Chafford Hundred
Purfleet
East Tilbury
Ockendon
Rainham
Cycle hub
enabling works
motorcycle
parking
sheltered
secure cycle
spaces
New Passenger
toilet facilities
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4
4 4 4
Enhanced
platform
waiting
facilities
(buildings)
4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Enhanced or
new waiting
areas or
seating
4
4
4
4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4 4 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4 4
Smart kiosk
4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4 4 4 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Signage /
navigation
Secure Station
information
areas
4 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Leigh-on-Sea
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Chalkwell
cctv cameras
Shoeburyness
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Benfleet
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Pitsea
De-cluttering
of booking hall
Laindon
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
West Horndon
Improved
booking hall
environmental
conditions
Upminster
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Basildon
4 4
Limehouse
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4 4
4 4
4 4
4 4
4
4 4
4 4
4 4
4 4
Barking
Booking Hall
refurbishments
(Suspended ceilings,
paintwork and
refurbished flooring)
Table
65
Fenchurch Street
West Ham
5. Working with Others
We recognise the importance of working in partnership with
others in order to make continuous improvements to the
accessibility of our stations and trains.
We continue to work and consult with organisations such
as DfT, Passenger Focus, London Travel Watch, DPTAC,
ATOC, our Passenger Panel and other local transport user
and focus groups in order to anticipate the requirements of all
our passengers, including those with disabilities. In particular
we are proud of our long standing working relationship with
Options for Independent Living [OIL] which is a rail transport
accessibility group supported by Essex County Council. They
have been our partners in organising our ‘Try a Train’ events.
We always aim to have a member representing the interests of
disabled customers on our Passenger Panel.
We also work with other transport service providers to make
sure that the needs of disabled passengers are incorporated
into any joint integrated transport plans.
6. Staff Training
We are committed, through the provision of appropriate training
material, to ensuring that all of our managers and staff who
deal directly with passengers understand our responsibilities
and commitments to disabled and older passengers and how
we deliver them.
Our front line staff are given disability awareness training at
induction. Further training in the safe deployment of platform
to train access ramps is provided locally as part of ongoing
coaching and mentoring by local managers.
Key managers are briefed on appointment regarding the key
aspects of our DPPP and their associated responsibilities
within the company.
As part of our commitment to meeting the needs of disabled
customers, we produced a booklet for staff entitled ‘Disability
Awareness - Helping our Customers who have Disabilities’, a
Staff Guide’ which sets out the core messages from our policy
together with information about helping customers with specific
disabilities such as wheelchair users and those with sight or
hearing impairments. The booklet forms part of the induction
training for new c2c staff.
The staff guide is also used to communicate our policy to
agency staff and key contractors staff.
Our customer relations staff are briefed on our DPPP and
trained to deal with disabled people who contact c2c via that
department. Any operational issues raised are brought to the
attention of our HoCR and the c2c Executive Group.
11
We produce management briefings on planned operational
changes, station improvements, changes to legislation and
other key matters which are highlighted to staff through the
staff intranet.
7. Emergency Procedures
All of our station and operational staff are trained in
evacuation and safety procedures to ensure the needs of
all customers are considered at all times and particularly at
times of emergencies. Our policy is not to evacuate disabled
passengers without help from the emergency services, unless
they are in a life threatening position. Our policy applies to both
our station and train environments. Several of our staff have
taken voluntary training in first aid.
8. Communications Strategy
We are committed to ensuring that the needs of our
disabled customers are considered across the range of our
communication channels.
As part of our ongoing communication strategy, both the Policy
Document and the Passenger Document are available for
download from our website in both easy read and pdf formats
and can be obtained by writing to us at:
Customer Relations
c2c Rail Limited FREEPOST ADM3968
Southend, SS1 1ZS
Telephone: 03457 44 44 22 (option 3)
Email: contact@c2crail.co.uk
Both documents can be made available in other formats such
as Large Print and Easy Read on request within seven working
days from the date we receive the request.
8.1 Telephone
We provide a free telephone and ‘Text Relay Service’ number
for customers with hearing impairments to contact us to
arrange their travel, including making requests for assistance
in advance. These numbers may also be used to give us
feedback, make enquiries on accessibility of stations, arrange
onward travel with other train operators, or to obtain a copy of
our policy and customer documents.
8.2 email and Twitter messaging services
We provide our customers with the option of joining our email
and/or Twitter messaging service which provides an alert
to customers when we suffer any significant form of service
disruption. This can be accessed through our website.
12
8.3 Website
As part of our ongoing strategy, we will ensure that our website
continues to meet industry recognised W3C standards. We will
also review our website from time to time to ensure that our
customer and accessible information is easy to find.
We will maintain and update the accessibility and station
facilities information on our website, see the ‘Stations and
Route Map’ link at www.c2c-online.co.uk
We are committed to supporting ATOC in the provision of
information on the National Rail website
www.nationalrail.co.uk including the ‘Stations Made Easy’
facility and will work with ATOC and other train operators to
ensure accuracy and consistency.
8.4 Signage
We are committed to working with local authorities to ensure
that stations within their areas are clearly signposted.
9.Car Parking
We offer free car parking to disabled passengers who
display an International Blue Badge Holders permit in the car
windscreen. We ensure that parking for Blue Badge holders
is in accessible locations as close to the station as is practical
and that spaces are of the correct size. We monitor the use
of these spaces to ensure that they are sufficient to meet
demand, and to discourage non-Blue Badge holders from
parking in them.
We are satisfied that the present number of spaces for Blue
Badge holders meets the current demand at all of our car
parks. However, we will continue to monitor this situation and
where the demand justifies it, we will increase the provision of
designated spaces.
If designated parking spaces are unavailable for any reason,
Blue Badge holders may park for free in our pay and display
car parks.
Most of our car parks have local closed circuit television
(CCTV) as a deterrent to crime and to enable us to monitor the
use of our car parks.
The provision of pick-up and set-down points for cars and taxis
is continuously reviewed, to ensure they are as close to our
station entrances as is reasonably practicable.
Appendix A
Station accessibility
and key station
facilities
Since the publication of the last c2c DPPP we have carried out
a number of schemes that have improved the accessibility of
our stations particularly for customers with disabilities.
These have included:
• Replacing all Help Points with the standardised ‘round’ type
• Laid down 113 platform graphics to assist safe placement
of wheelchairs adjacent to the doors of disabled carriages
• Installed DDA compatible handrails on the bridges at
Stanford le Hope & West Horndon stations.
• Laid down safe walking routes with step free access at
West Horndon station (pavement).
• Installed gripfast stair treads either as new or upgrades at:
Upminster (both bridges), Laindon, Stanford le Hope, Grays
subway, Westcliff, Southend Central Platform 2 exit.
• Improved Wayfinding signage at Upminster station.
• Installed a help point at the main Fenchurch street
station entrance (this was done in response to the
recommendations from the station audit carried out by
Options for Independent Living).
• Completed the installation of the lift at Limehouse for
access to Platform 2
• And finally, brought the lift at Dagenham Dock station back
into service (which we achieved in partnership with London
Travel Watch, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
and Network Rail).
Several of the above schemes were supported by funding from
the DfT “Access for All Small Schemes Fund”.
Our car park contractor enforces car park regulations and
monitors the use and abuse of blue badge spaces.
13
14
Fenchurch Street
for Tower Bridge and Tower of London
Canary Wharf
and Docklands
Canary Wharf
and Docklands
O2 and
Canary Wharf
DLR
2
4
Limehouse
2
2
2
West Ham
2
2
4
2
2
4 Barking
2
4 Upminster
Step free access on the
London bound platform only
Jubilee
Woolwich
Arsenal
DLR
Liverpool
Street
2
Tower Hill 150m
Tower Gateway 200m
Tower Millenium Pier 644m
DLR
Jubilee
Stratford
DLR
for Westfield Stratford City
& The Queen Elizabeth
Olympic Park
Beckton
Rainham
2
Gospel Oak
2
Dagenham Dock
2 Purfleet
for RSPB’s
Step free access Grays bound platform only
Rainham
Marshes
Chafford Hundred
National Rail
Romford
for Liberty
shopping centre
for Services to
Romford Mon - Sat
for intu Lakeside shopping centre
2 Grays
2
2
2
Ockendon
Step free access by
arrangement
2 West Horndon
2 Tilbury Town
Step free access on Southend
bound platform only
for Tilbury Riverside to Gravesend
4 Laindon
2 East Tilbury
4 Basildon
for Eastgate
2
shopping centre
Stanford-le-Hope
key
Extended Oyster PAyG
validity Area
Zone 1-6 travelcard and
Oyster PAyG validity Area
train Service
Grays Service
Southend Central via Grays
Service
2
Shoeburyness via Southend
and basildon Service
Number of Off-Peak
trains Per hour
More services run during peak hours
from selected stations
Step free Access
– (Street to Platform)
2
2 Pitsea
2
4 Benfleet
for Canvey Island
2
4 Leigh-on-Sea
2
4 Chalkwell
2
4 Westcliff
for Cliffs Pavilion
2
Central
4 Southend
for Adventure Island
for Old Leigh &
Cockle Sheds
for the beach
South Essex College
Essex wildlife trust
Connections with
london
underground
london
Overground
DlR
Plusbus
ferry
bus
National Rail
East
4 Southend
for Southchurch Village
Step free access on London
bound platform only
4 Thorpe Bay
No step free connection
between platform
4 Shoeburyness
for East Beach
c2c Contact Centre
c2c Customer Relations,
FREEPOST ADM3968,
Southend, SS1 1ZS
0345 744 4422
contact@c2crail.co.uk
c2c-online.co.uk
@c2c_Rail
c2c Rail
c2c Live Apps