Inclusive design
Inclusive design places people at the heart of the design process of our spaces and places
Inclusive design aims to deliver spaces and places for everyone. It means that our customers and colleagues working in our stations benefit from the full range of services and a positive travel for all that we offer.
Inclusive design:
- puts people at the heart of the design process, ensuring they can use the railway safely, easily and with dignity
- acknowledges diversity and difference, and is responsive to people’s needs
- offers choice where a single design solution may not work for everyone
- provides for flexibility in use, offering more than one solution to help balance everyone’s needs; and
- provides buildings and environments that are convenient and enjoyable for everyone.
We work with our Built Environment Accessibility Panel and Technical Authority teams to make sure our designs follow these principles. We also carry out Diversity Impact Assessments to ensure our spaces are an inclusive travel experience for everyone.
Find out about the Access for All stations improvement programme
Equality Impact Assessments
We want our railway to work for everyone. An Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) helps us understand how a project, programme, policy or change could affect different people. It helps us spot potential barriers early and take action to reduce or remove them.
The Equality Act 2010 places a Public Sector Equality Duty on Network Rail. This means we must consider how our decisions affect people with different protected characteristics. We must consider the need to prevent discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations. An EQIA is Network Rail’s established way of assessing these impacts and showing that equality and inclusion have been considered when decisions are made.
Network Rail’s Equality Impact Assessment Process requires an EQIA where projects, programmes, policies or business changes may affect people. This includes:
- events and communications
- policies and standards
- information technology (IT)
- buying goods or services
- changes to the built environment change programmes.
Start thinking about equality and inclusion as early as possible. Identifying potential impacts early gives us more opportunity to remove barriers, make improvements and create better outcomes for passengers, colleagues and communities. For more information or to check if a EQIA has been completed on a project, contact EqualityImpactAssessment@networkrail.co.uk or FOI@networkrail.co.uk.
Useful links for planning a trip
- For details about accessibility at our stations and the help available, visit our station pages.
- If you need help, please contact the train operating company that you are travelling with. You can find more information on our Planning a trip page.
- Information about stations managed by train operators is available at National Rail Enquiries.