If you require assistance when travelling with Grand Central, please contact us in advance on one of the numbers below.
Grand Central serves a number of stations across England, some of which are not staffed or are in remote locations. For full details of station accessibility, see our Stations page here.
All of our trains are wheelchair-accessible, and feature accessible toilets and dedicated wheelchair spaces. Additionally, announcements on-board are provided in both audio and digital formats. Travelling while mobility-impaired? You could be saving up to 33% on travel for you and a nominated person with the Disabled Persons' Railcard.
Passenger Assist
Simply book assistance for any train journey, with one number. For a helping hand around the station, to boarding a train or arranging a ramp.
We’ll organise assistance for your entire journey, even if you travel with someone else to complete the trip.
We can arrange for someone to:
- meet you at the station entrance or meeting point
- help you navigate around the station and accompany you to your train
- help you on and off the service
- provide a ramp on and off your train
- meet you from your train and take you to your next train or the exit
- carry your bag (up to three items of luggage as per the National Rail Conditions of Travel)
How to book travel assistance
When you're booking your train ticket on our website there is a link in the 'Need assistance' section on the Travel options page. Just click on the link and you'll be able to request what help you need and we'll be in touch. Please note that assistance can only be guaranteed if booked during our Contact Centre opening hours (shown below) at least 2 hours prior to your journey.
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Book assistance online without buying a ticket here
Get the Passenger Assist App
You can also use your smartphone to request assistance through the Passenger Assistance App. The app is brought to you by Transreport in partnership with National Rail.
Accessible Travel Policy
Our Accessible Travel Policy (PDF)sets out how we aim to assist passengers who would normally find it difficult to access our services. It also contains detailed information about access arrangements at the stations we normally call at.
More information about our Accessible Travel Policy, including accessibility along our routes and on board our trains, can be found here.
Station Improvements & Updates
The National Rail Enquiries website has a search tool for any station on the network where you can look up specific information relating to access requirements and station improvements. Click here to visit that page.
Access to Sunderland station will change from the 29th April 2022 as part of a transformation project for the area. The southern entrance on Athenaeum Street will close from the 2nd May 2022 and all passengers are advised to use the northern entrance on Union Street. Work is scheduled to continue until 2024.
Electric Mobility Scooters
Please visit our Electric mobility scooter page for updated information on travelling with an electric mobility scooter on our services.
Tell us about your experience
If you’ve used Grand Central’s travel assistance and have a comment or complaint to make, you can contact us at 0345 603 4852 (option 4, then option 1) or email us at customer.services@grandcentralrail.com.
We understand the inconvenience caused when assistance is not delivered so, when appropriate, we will also provide you with redress for your journey.
If you feel we have not addressed a complaint to your satisfaction, you may take this up with the Rail Ombudsman. You can contact the Rail Ombudsman here.