Our Passenger Assistance service (including Turn Up & Go) is available as usual during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Passenger Assistance team are on hand to discuss and plan your journey- where possible we recommend booking assistance in advance by calling us on 0800 138 5560 (Text Relay 18001 0800 138 5560).
Our team are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (excluding Christmas Day). We recommend booking assistance two hours in advance for same day travel.
If you are showing any Coronavirus symptoms, however mild, you should self-isolate along with any other members of your household. The latest Public Health England advice is available here. For more information, including the use of face coverings, please see our Coronavirus frequently asked questions.
Coronavirus FAQs
Booking with Passenger Assist over the telephone/text relay
Northern participate in a system called Passenger Assist which older and disabled customers can use to arrange assistance. This is an industry-wide system used to book assistance at stations for passengers during their journey.
Passenger Assist allows you to:
- request assistance getting on or off the train
- request assistance entering or leaving the station
- request a portable ramp for getting on or off the train
- book seat reservations where available, including the booking of dedicated wheelchair spaces
- make onward travel reservations on services operated by other train companies where reservations are available
- request assistance to and from connecting services
- purchase tickets
Call 0800 1385560
Booking with Passenger Assist using our web form
Northern participate in a system called Passenger Assist which older and disabled customers can use to arrange assistance. This is an industry-wide system used to book assistance at stations for passengers during their journey.
Passenger Assist allows you to:
- request assistance getting on or off the train
- request assistance entering or leaving the station
- request a portable ramp for getting on or off the train
- book seat reservations, including the booking of dedicated wheelchair spaces
- make onward travel reservations on services operated by other train companies where reservations are available
- request assistance to and from connecting services
- purchase tickets
THESE FORMS ARE ONLY MONITORED BETWEEN 7AM AND 10PM OUTSIDE OF THESE TIMES PLEASE CALL OUR ASSISTED TRAVEL TEAM ON 0800 138 5560 (Text Relay 18001 0800 138 5560).
Request Assistance
Other ways to book Passenger Assist
Passenger Assistance by Transreport is an app that has been created to facillitate booking using your mobile device, more details are available
here.
Discounted travel
You could save money on your train tickets by buying a railcard. If you are disabled, you may be eligible for 1/3 off rail fares (for you and a friend) with a Disabled Persons Railcard. If you are aged 60 or over may be eligible for 1/3 off rail fares with a Senior Railcard.
If you are between the ages of 5 and 15 and receive age related discount and therefore would not personally require the discount the Disabled Persons Rail Card would offer but have a disability that is covered by the railcard, please consider if you have a carer accompanying you it might still be beneficial to apply for the card as they may receive the discount off their ticket. More details are available
here.
Assisting you at the station
Many of our stations are staffed and all our trains have conductors. They are there to help so please don't hesitate to ask. We will ensure they are sufficiently resourced to meet the booked travel assistance requirements and help you on and off the train, using the on train ramp where it is required.
Accessible toilet map
Accessible Travel Policy
We are working with rail industry colleagues and our customers to improve accessibility to our stations and trains. Our commitment is outlined in our leaflet
Accessible travel policy
Mobility Scooters
Northern is committed to providing a rail network that is inclusive and as accessible as possible, giving everyone an equal opportunity to travel and enjoy all the north of England has to offer. We made great progress in upgrading our trains, introducing more almost 100 new trains and refurbishing more than 200 others. That means that the trains serving our customers across the north are more accessible than ever before. To make the best use of these improvements, and following a successful trial, were now able to offer our customers who use mobility scooters better access at more than 100 stations which are also accessible. For more information please see our
Mobility Scooter webpage.
Sunflower Lanyard
We are proud to recognise the Sunflower Lanyard. The Lanyard allows the wearer to discreetly indicate that they may have a non-visible disability that may mean they need a little extra support when travelling. Around one in ten of the UK population have a non-visible condition and surveys suggest that people with disabilities avoid using rail travel due to difficulties they have faced on their previous experiences. 1.3 million customers booked assistance for rail travel in 2019; this figure rises on average by 2% each year, and we want every customer to have a positive experience. If you require more information on the scheme, please contact our Customer Experience Centre on 0800 200 6060 and they will be happy to help.

WCAG Guidelines
We are committed to ensuring our website and app are accessible to everyone. This includes customers with vision, hearing, mobility, or cognitive impairments. We strive to improve our website by following the guidelines set out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG).
Priority Seat Card
Northern have created a priority seating card in partnership with Hidden Disabilities, the organization behind the Sunflower Lanyard scheme for customers who have visible and invisible disabilities to enable them to feel confident and empowered when asking other customers who are sitting in the priority seats on our trains to offer them a seat. There are priority seats in most of our carriages
The card has dual branding to make it easily recognisable as a disability aid and has space for you to personalise it on the back with any specific requirements you may want to make our staff aware of when travelling with us.
The cards are available free of charge through the Hidden Disability website by using a voucher code that is available from our customer experience team. Please click on this link and email the team stating your full name and address and you will be sent a code for a free card. We can provide one code per person.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the team at enquiries@northernrailway.co.uk or call on 0800 200 6060

