Iarnród Éireann launches new DART accessibility improvement pilot programme
By Kim O'Leary
It look’s like there is good news on the horizon for Kildare commuters with Iarnród Éireann set to introduce a new pilot scheme which will make its DART services more easily accessible for those with disabilities.
Mobility and sensory impaired rail customers, and members of mobility and sensory impaired representative bodies, many of whom are part of Iarnród Éireann’s Disability Users Group, travelled by DART today to launch the DART Accessibility Improvement Pilot Programme. They were joined by Chairman of Iarnród Éireann, Frank Allen.
This programme will see assistance to customers requiring it improved through the establishment of station Zones, which will see full-time staffing of thirteen hub stations for each zone across the DART network, each with a dedicated assistance phone line.
Staff at each zone will respond to assistance requests for the hub station and between one and three other adjacent stations.
This is designed to reduce the advised notice period for those requiring assistance when travelling on the DART from 24 hours to 4 hours, and the company will continue to endeavour to provide assistance at all times if notice is not possible.
These changes follow customer research and liaison with regular DART customers and representative groups. The pilot will be in place for six months, and will be reviewed with a view to reducing the advised notice period further, and extending the Zoned station model to commuter routes.
On Intercity services, Iarnród Éireann plans in 2018 to rollout new Customer Service Officer roles across trains on the national network, meaning assistance would be available at all times on Intercity trains as the new roles are deployed.
A spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann said “we have invested over the past two decades in making our fleet and our stations more accessible, and will continue to develop these. This programme should give greater certainty and reliability of assistance to customers who require it, and we look forward to engaging with users and using their feedback on the pilot programme to improve assistance further.”