{"id":379639,"date":"2026-03-03T21:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=190015"},"modified":"2026-03-03T21:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:55:17","slug":"orr-secures-improvement-package-from-northern-trains-after-accessibility-failings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=379639","title":{"rendered":"ORR secures improvement package from Northern Trains after accessibility failings"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Passengers who rely on assistance when travelling with Northern Trains should see improvements to the service over time, after the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) secured commitments from the operator to ensure staff receive disability awareness training and to provide a \u00a3550,000 additional package of measures.<\/p>\n

Northern Trains is currently working on resolving the concerns about their failure to provide disability awareness training for front-line staff, highlighted by the regulator\u2019s investigation, with most of these improvements expected to be completed by the end of March 2026.<\/p>\n

ORR also accepted the operator\u2019s package of additional measures, which are predominantly targeted at further improving disability awareness training. The rail regulator said it would work with Northern Trains on the detail of the measures, worth an estimated \u00a3550,000.<\/p>\n

ORR\u2019s investigation was prompted by ongoing concerns about the operator\u2019s compliance with commitments to provide passenger-facing staff with disability awareness training. The issue was identified when Northern Trains reported in August 2025 that around 800 of its passenger-facing staff had not received disability awareness training.<\/p>\n

In the course of ORR\u2019s investigation, the regulator established there were significant historic gaps in training for Northern Trains\u2019 passenger-facing station staff, with inadequate management oversight and record-keeping. ORR noted that Northern took steps to significantly close the training gap in Autumn 2025.<\/p>\n

Northern Trains\u2019 breach of its licence obligations is considered ongoing until there is assurance that the training gap is fully resolved and the improvement plan is delivered.  ORR will report on Northern\u2019s progress after the end of July 2026.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Tobyn, ORR\u2019s director of strategy, policy and reform, said: \u201cOur investigation found that Northern Trains failed to meet its public commitment to provide training to existing staff at least every two years, falling short of the basic standard of service that disabled passengers rely on. Staff training is essential to delivering an accessible railway, and the failings we identified highlight the need for strong management oversight and accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorthern Trains has, however, acknowledged these failings, taken steps to address them, and committed to further improvements and reparations that should make a meaningful difference for passengers. Securing lasting changes to training, governance and passenger support will deliver greater public benefit than us imposing a financial penalty, and we will continue to monitor Northern Trains closely to ensure these commitments are fully delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Image credit: Northern<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Passengers who rely on assistance when travelling with Northern Trains should see improvements to the service over time, after the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) secured commitments from the operator to ensure staff receive disability awareness training and to provide a \u00a3550,000 additional package of measures. Northern Trains is currently working on resolving the [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[146,16017,47,16016,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accessibility","category-industry-news","category-rail-news","category-train-operating-companies","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=379639"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":379867,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379639\/revisions\/379867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=379639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=379639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=379639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}