Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to networkrail.co.uk

This website is run by Network Rail. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • Some active elements cannot be navigated to via the keyboard when you change the size of the browser window 
  • Keyboard focus is not always visible and content can become obscured
  • Some content does not reflow correctly when viewed at high magnification or on smaller screens
  • Images of text are present without text alternatives
  • Alternative text has not been provided on interactive content
  • Some colour combinations are insufficient.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 10 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please email: websupport@networkrail.co.uk with details of the issue.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Network Rail is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to ‘the non-compliances’ listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  1. The website navigation menu cannot be fully accessed using a keyboard when viewed at higher zoom levels. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A). We plan to fix this by September 2026.
  2. Keyboard focus is not always visible within interactive elements. Keyboard focus can also become hidden behind website components including the navigation menu, search panel and cookie banner. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criteria 2.4.7 Focus Visible (Level AA) and 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) (Level AA). We plan to fix this by September 2026.
  3. The Safe Spaces banner does not reflow correctly when viewed at high magnification or on smaller screens. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.4.10 Reflow (Level AA). We plan to fix this by September 2026.
  4. The Safe Spaces banner uses an image of text rather than accessible text content. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.4.5 Images of Text (Level AA). We plan to fix this by September 2026.
  5. The Safe Spaces banner, website search, website logo and parts of our online suggestion forms do not always provide appropriate alternative text, accessible names or labels. This means some users of assistive technologies may not be able to understand the purpose of content or complete forms successfully. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criteria 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A), 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A), 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A). We plan to fix this by September 2026.
  6. Some elements within the Safe Spaces banner, navigation menu and online forms do not have sufficient colour contrast. This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA). We plan to fix this by September 2026.
  7. The file upload button used to attach documents on out customer help website may not be correctly interpreted by screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role Value. We have raised this issue with the supplier and are awaiting confirmation of a remediation date.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs do not meet accessibility standards. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

If you come across a PDF that is not accessible, please contact us so we can provide you with an alternative version.

Videos

Some of our older videos do not meet accessibility standards because they do not have audio descriptions. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix videos published before 23 September 2020.

SafeSpaces web app

The Safe Spaces service is delivered through a third-party web application operated independently of Network Rail. We are aware of accessibility issues within this application that may affect some users. As the application is developed and maintained by a third party, these issues are outside our direct control and are not covered by the accessibility regulations.

We have made the provider aware of these issues and will continue to encourage accessibility improvements.

What we’ve done to make this website accessible

This site has been built using code compliant with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards for HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

The site displays correctly in current browsers and using standards compliant HTML/CSS code means any future browsers will also display it correctly. Additional technologies including JavaScript have been utilised, however, this website is not reliant on these technologies as they are only used to enhance functionality. Every effort has been made to make these technologies as accessible as possible.

Mobile considerations

The site has been built responsively, so that it adapts on smaller devices, allowing the user to view and navigate the content with ease. The responsive site has been developed with reference to the work of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), taking into consideration the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2) and Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP 1.0).

iOS and Android devices have several built-in assistive features that users can take advantage of. For more information please see the following links:

Downloadable files

We have made files available to download in a variety of formats. The most common are: Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), Microsoft Word (.doc and .docx), and Microsoft Excel (.xls and .xlsx).

If you are unable to open these types of documents, please download and install the latest versions of the free viewer software and online apps:

How to adapt the website to meet your needs

AbilityNet’s My Computer My Way site offers a guide to making your PC accessible, including help with seeing the screen, using your keyboard and mouse, and with language and reading.

Making changes to your operating system:

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are working through the findings identified in the recent Government Digital Service (GDS) accessibility assessment and prioritising improvements that affect multiple pages, common user journeys and key passenger content.

We last completed a full accessibility audit with The Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) in October 2024. Since then, accessibility improvements have been delivered across the website, and we continue to review and address issues identified through testing and monitoring.

As part of our ongoing commitment to accessibility, we are commissioning a further independent review with The Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) to assess the website against WCAG 2.2 AA and help identify any additional improvements required.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 1 August 2019. It was last reviewed on 6 August 2026. The website was independently audited against WCAG 2.2 AA standard by The Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) in October 2024.

The website was most recently tested against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard on 26 June 2026 by the Government Digital Service (GDS).

The following pages were selected by the GDS for testing: