Three years after Graeme Innes’ high-profile case against RailCorp in relation to the audibility of ‘next stop’ announcements on trains, Sydney Trains (a subsidiary of RailCorp) has committed to improving communication with people who are blind or have low vision about changes and developments on the rail network.
Graeme Innes, who PIAC represented in his case against RailCorp, says that he has noticed a vast improvement in Sydney Trains’ quality of service since 2013. ‘The improvements to audible announcements make a big difference for many train travellers, especially those who, like me, are blind or have low vision,’ Graeme commented. ‘Sydney Trains should be given credit for responding to this issue in a proactive way.’
Howard Collins, OBE, Chief Executive at Sydney Trains, said, ‘we are incredibly proud of the progress we have made in the last few years for all customers, but particularly improvements in accessibility to our services.
‘We are constantly reviewing feedback from customers, our stakeholders and through our independent verifiers to look at where improvements can be made and where changes we have already made have been successful,’ said Mr Collins.
Independent verifiers perform ongoing monitoring of the quality of audible announcements on the Sydney Trains network which is reviewed monthly.