Passengers with mobility scooters can now travel on all types of Northern trains with free permit

Credit: Northern Rail

Rail passengers who also use mobility scooters to get around are now able to travel more widely via a free permit with a regional rail operator serving part of the borough.

Northern, which runs services through Ilkeston Railway Station, has made the offer after an update was made to company rules covering Class 158 trains meaning the policy now covers all types of its rolling stock.

Passengers who currently have mobility scooter permits with Northern are being contacted and told they can travel on Class 158 trains if their scooters meet the size requirements.

They will be provided with a new permit which states the model can be used to safely board these trains and will not become stuck on board.

There is no change to the rules that allow mobility scooters on all of the other types of trains in the operator’s fleet.

When Northern’s policy was introduced in 2020, the vast majority of scooters were too large to turn in the narrow vestibules of the Class 158s and there were concerns they could become stuck.

But with a growing number of customers now travelling on smaller, lighter models, Northern agreed to review this policy.

After consulting passengers and staff, conducting further testing with various models and reassessing more than 150 stations, the operator has decided to update the rules and allow passengers with suitable mobility scooters to board Class 158 trains.

Alex Hornby, Customer and Commercial Director at Northern, said: “We are determined to create an accessible railway for everyone and continue to make further improvements for our customers across Northern. With more people using smaller scooters, we decided it was time to review the rules and find a new way forward to enable more passengers with mobility scooters to safely board more services.

“I would like to thank Janet Kidd, Tony Jennings and Sue Buckingham, as well as Shopmobility Leeds for their support in making this happen. We’re committed to giving everyone the confidence to travel by train and have a conductor on board every service to provide assistance.

“We will continue to create further improvements and it is really pleasing to see satisfaction levels amongst customers with accessibility needs continue to increase.”

More than 3,000 passengers, using around 330 types of mobility scooters, have already obtained a free permits from Northern. They can travel from 262 stations across the Northern network.

It comes as Northern is planning to make the largest ever investment in its fleet, by purchasing up to 450 trains in three phases. That will include around 130 trains in the first phase.

The publicly-owned operator is aiming to award the contracts by early 2027 and have the first trains delivered in 2030.

There is also a focus on improving level boarding, by ensuring the new train carriages meet requirements at platforms that conform to the network standard.