Recognising that accessing the railways is particularly complex for young people with disabilities, Platform worked with specialist settings, teachers, and their students to create bespoke packages to help break down perceived barriers to rail travel and empower people with disabilities to use the railway in the future.

The Platform team held meetings to gain an understanding of students’ needs before preparing appropriate and accessible workshops. For some, this involved journey planning which helped address barriers to travel. For others, such as groups with non-verbal students, it involved play-based activities, where safety messaging could be delivered through dressing up and role play. The workshops served as the precursor to train trips, empowering the students to shape the experience by choosing their own destinations.

Over 300 students from 16 special schools and day centres enjoyed 24 fantastic days out by train, including to Gloucester Cathedral, a paint festival, and the beach – even to eating lunch at a restaurant of their choosing to help students practice ordering food.

Platform will be continuing with the strands of work laid out in ‘This Mighty Traveller’ to further connect people with disabilities and special needs to the railways, achieving their aims of bringing the positive experience and possibilities of train travel alive.

The East Meets West project brought together women from South Asian backgrounds, many of whom faced isolation or had no experience of independent travel. Through a series of trips and days out, including afternoon tea in Accrington, a trip on a narrow boat in Hebden Bridge and a visit to Bradford’s Science and Media Museum, Community Rail Lancashire supported them with the skills and knowledge to travel confidently via public transport.

One of Community Rail Lancashire’s primary aims was for the trips to foster feelings of autonomy among the women, encouraging them to build friendships and feel empowered within their culture and community, and they certainly delivered on these aims. At the start of the project, 80% of the women stated they felt lacking in confidence to travel independently – by the end, over 75% reported feeling capable of planning and undertaking solo journeys in the future, an amazing result.

For the Mindful Days Out project, Community Rail Cumbria established links with special needs schools and mental health charities to help those who are marginalised from rail to embark on new travel experiences. The CRP supported user-led activities including rail safety training, staff familiarisation and travel planning, which enabled people with additional needs to feel confident navigating stations and trains and empowered to travel by public transport independently and more frequently. After each trip, Community Rail Cumbria facilitated discussions to support participants in processing their feelings, reflecting on what went well and thinking about what learning they would take forwards with them for future days out. As the quotes from participants below demonstrate, train travel can have a transformative effect on people’s lives and open up opportunities that may not have previously been available.