MPs have criticised the rail industry’s plans to close most rail ticket offices as going too far, too fast, as well as criticising the industry’s handling of the recent consultation process.
The Transport Select Committee has written to rail minister Huw Merriman with concerns that the proposals on which rail operators consulted over the summer risk excluding some disabled travellers and travellers with access needs from the railway altogether.
In their letter, MPs argued that, at a minimum, any proposed changes should be carefully piloted to properly understand their impact before being rolled out network-wide.
The letter follows an evidence session held by the committee in September on the proposed closures as part of a wider inquiry into the legal obligations of accessible transport.
MPs said they recognised that ‘it is reasonable to an extent that operators should adapt to changes in how passengers interact with ticket retail’, but argued that this is not a sufficient approach to safeguarding the needs of disabled passengers.
The committee said there are ‘many legitimate concerns’ about whether ticket office closures would reduce the assistance these passengers need to travel freely and reliably on the railway like anyone else.
MPs also criticised both the form of the consultation and the initial lack of accessible formats.
They noted evidence from the chief executive of Chiltern Railways that the Rail Delivery Group did not advise operators before the consultation on the need for multiple alternative formats of the proposal documents and did not instruct operators to make some formats available until very late in the consultation period.
They said: ‘Given that the timing of this consultation was entirely in the gift of the operators and that the proposals had clearly been in preparation for some time, the inconsistency and inaccessibility of the consultation materials was unacceptable.’
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