Assistance National Rail Services
Provision of Assistance to National Rail Services at LU Managed Stations
There are 54 stations which are served by both LU, London Overground and National Rail trains. 14 of these are managed and staffed by London Underground.
At these stations LU staff will be able to provide assistance to customers wishing to board national rail trains in the same way that they provide assistance to customers using the tube, for example guiding visually impaired customers from the ticket hall to platform. You will usually be able to find a member of staff by the ticket barriers or in the ticket office; alternatively you can use a help point to contact them.
There is often a very large step, or set of steps up into national rail trains which may cause problems for many wheelchair or scooter users. National rail companies use manual boarding ramps to overcome this step, however LU do not use manual boarding ramps on our service and our staff are not trained to use them.
Assistance on and off national rail service trains from these stations will be provided by the relevant train company. However this will have to be booked in advance. The train companies ask customers to book any assistance required at least 24 hours before their journey as this will allow time for any arrangements to be made, such as relocate staff to the relevant station. The train companies give priority to people who have booked assistance in advance and do not guarantee to provide assistance if you turn up without booking it.
If you haven’t pre-booked assistance and turn up at one of these stations, LU staff will try to assist you by contacting the relevant train company to arrange for them to send a member of their staff to the station. However this may take a significant amount of time, probably at least an hour.
You can find contact details for all of the train companies as well as more details about the services and facilities they provide on the National Rail enquiries website - Disabled Passengers
Alternatively, to plan your journey and arrange assistance with the train company with whom you will be travelling please contact National Rail Enquiries by phone on 08457 48 49 50 or by Textphone on 0845 60 50 600.
In addition, the different Train Companies have different policies and restrictions on about carrying mobility scooters on their trains. Scooter-users who want to travel by rail, should contact the relevant train companies to check they can safely accommodate your scooter. A summary of the different train operator’s policies can be found on the National Rail Enquiries website - Powered Scooters