Right to transport
1. Railway undertakings and station managers shall, with the active involvement of representative organisations and, where relevant, representatives of persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility, establish or have in place non-discriminatory access rules for the transport of persons with disabilities, including their personal assistants recognised as such in accordance with national practices, and persons with reduced mobility. Those rules shall take into account the agreements referred to in point 4.4.3 of the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 1300/2014, in particular with regard to the entity responsible for providing assistance to persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility.
2. Reservations and tickets shall be offered to persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility at no additional cost. A railway undertaking, ticket vendor or tour operator may not refuse to accept a reservation from, or to issue a ticket to, a person with disabilities or a person with reduced mobility, or require that such person be accompanied by another person, unless this is strictly necessary in order to comply with the access rules referred to in paragraph 1.
Information to persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility
1. Upon request, a station manager, a railway undertaking, a ticket vendor or a tour operator shall provide persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility with information, including in accessible formats in accordance with the provisions of Regulations (EU) No 454/2011 and (EU) No 1300/2014 and Directive (EU) 2019/882, on the accessibility of the station and associated facilities, and of rail services and on the access conditions of rolling stock in accordance with the access rules referred to in Article 21(1) and shall inform persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility about facilities on board.
2. When a railway undertaking, ticket vendor or tour operator makes use of the derogation provided for in Article 21(2), it shall upon request inform in writing the person with disabilities or person with reduced mobility concerned of its reasons for doing so within five working days of the refusal to accept the reservation or to issue the ticket or of the imposition of the condition of being accompanied. The railway undertaking, ticket vendor or tour operator shall make reasonable efforts to propose acceptable alternative transport to the person in question taking into account his or her accessibility needs.
3. In unstaffed stations, railway undertakings and station managers shall ensure that easily available information, including in accessible formats in accordance with the provisions of Regulations (EU) No 454/2011 and (EU) No 1300/2014 and Directive (EU) 2019/882, is displayed in accordance with the access rules referred to in Article 21(1) regarding the nearest staffed stations and regarding directly available assistance for persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility.
Assistance at railway stations and on board
1. Persons with disabilities or persons with reduced mobility shall be assisted as follows:
(a)
the personal assistant, recognised as such in accordance with national practices, may travel with a special tariff and, if applicable, free of charge and be seated, where practicable, next to the person with disabilities;
(b)
where a railway undertaking requires that a passenger needs to be accompanied on board the train in accordance with Article 21(2), the accompanying person shall be entitled to travel free of charge and to be seated, where practicable, next to the person with disabilities or to the person with reduced mobility;
(c)
an assistance dog shall be permitted to accompany them in accordance with any relevant national law;
(d)
for unstaffed trains, station managers or railway undertakings shall provide assistance free of charge, in conformity with the access rules referred to in Article 21(1), during boarding and alighting from a train when there is trained staff on duty at the station;
(e)
on departure from, transit through or arrival at a staffed railway station, the station manager or the railway undertaking shall provide assistance free of charge in such a way that that person is able to board the train, to transfer to a connecting rail service for which he or she has a ticket, or to alight from the train, provided there is trained staff on duty. Where the need for assistance has been notified in advance in accordance with point (a) of Article 24, the station manager or the railway undertaking shall ensure that assistance is provided as requested;
(f)
at unstaffed stations, railway undertakings shall provide assistance free of charge on board a train and during boarding and alighting from a train if the train is accompanied by trained staff;
(g)
in the absence of trained accompanying staff on board a train and at a station, station managers or railway undertakings shall make all reasonable efforts to enable persons with disabilities or persons with reduced mobility to have access to travel by rail;
(h)
railway undertakings shall make all reasonable efforts to provide persons with disabilities or persons with reduced mobility with access to the same on-board services as other passengers, where these persons cannot have access to those services independently and safely.
2. The rules referred to in Article 21(1) shall establish the arrangements for the exercise of the rights referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.
Conditions under which assistance is provided
Railway undertakings, station managers, ticket vendors and tour operators shall cooperate in order to provide assistance free of charge to persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility, as specified in Articles 21 and 23, offering a single notification mechanism, in accordance with the following points:
(a)
assistance shall be provided on condition that the railway undertaking, the station manager, the ticket vendor or the tour operator with which the ticket was purchased, or the Single Point of Contact referred to in point (f), where applicable, is notified of the passenger’s need for such assistance at least 24 hours before the assistance is needed. A single notification per journey shall be sufficient. Such notifications shall be forwarded to all railway undertakings and station managers involved in the journey.
Such notifications shall be accepted without additional costs, irrespective of the means of communication being used.
Where a ticket or season ticket permits multiple journeys, one notification shall be sufficient provided that adequate information on the timing of subsequent journeys is provided, and in any case at least 24 hours before the first time the assistance is needed. The passenger or his/her representative shall make all reasonable efforts to inform of any annulation of such subsequent journeys at least 12 hours in advance.
Member States may allow the 24-hour period for notifications referred to in the first, second and third subparagraphs to be extended up to 36 hours, but not beyond 30 June 2026. In such cases, Member States shall notify the Commission of that permission and provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to reduce the period;
(b)
railway undertakings, station managers, ticket vendors and tour operators shall take all measures necessary for the reception of notifications. Where ticket vendors are unable to process such notifications, they shall indicate alternative points of purchase or alternative means to make the notification;
(c)
if no notification is made in accordance with point (a), the railway undertaking and the station manager shall make all reasonable efforts to provide assistance in such a way that the person with disabilities or person with reduced mobility may travel;
(d)
without prejudice to point (f) of this Article, the station manager or any other authorised person shall designate points at which persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility can make their arrival at the railway station known and request assistance. The responsibilities regarding the designation of such points and the provision of information about them shall be established in the access rules referred to in Article 21(1);
(e)
assistance shall be provided on condition that the person with disabilities or person with reduced mobility presents him or herself at the designated point at a time stipulated by the railway undertaking or station manager providing such assistance. Any time stipulated shall not be more than 60 minutes before the published departure time or the time at which all passengers are asked to check in. If no time is stipulated by which the person with disabilities or person with reduced mobility is required to present him or herself, the person shall present him or herself at the designated point at least 30 minutes before the published departure time or before the time at which all passengers are asked to check in;
(f)
Member States may require that station managers and railway undertakings on their territory cooperate to establish and to operate Single Points of Contact for persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility. The terms for the operation of the Single Points of Contact shall be established in the access rules referred to in Article 21(1). Those Single Points of Contact have the responsibility to:
(i)
accept requests for assistance at stations;
(ii)
communicate individual requests for assistance to station managers and railway undertakings; and
(iii)
provide information on accessibility.
Compensation in respect of mobility equipment, assistive devices and assistance dogs
1. Where railway undertakings and station managers cause the loss of, or damage to, mobility equipment, including wheelchairs, and assistive devices, or the loss of, or injury to, assistance dogs used by persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility, they shall be liable for that loss, damage or injury, and provide compensation without undue delay. That compensation shall comprise:
(a)
the cost of replacement or repair of the mobility equipment or assistive devices lost or damaged;
(b)
the cost of replacement or the treatment of the injury of an assistance dog that was lost or injured; and
(c)
reasonable costs of temporary replacement for mobility equipment, assistive devices or assistance dogs where such replacement is not provided by the railway undertaking or the station manager in accordance with paragraph 2.
2. Where paragraph 1 applies, railway undertakings and station managers shall rapidly make all reasonable efforts to provide immediately needed temporary replacements for mobility equipment or assistive devices. The person with disabilities or the person with reduced mobility shall be permitted to keep that temporary replacement equipment or device until the compensation referred to in paragraph 1 has been paid.
Staff training
1. Railway undertakings and station managers shall ensure that all staff, including those newly recruited, providing, in their regular duties, direct assistance to persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility, receive disability-related training in order to know how to meet the needs of persons with disabilities and of persons with reduced mobility.
They shall also provide all staff, working at the station or on board trains, who deal directly with the travelling public with training and regular refresher training courses to raise awareness of the needs of persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility.
2. Railway undertakings and station managers may accept the participation, in the training referred to in paragraph 1, of employees with disabilities, and may consider the participation of passengers with disabilities and passengers with reduced mobility, and/or organisations representing them.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
