More Passengers with Impaired Mobility and Wheelchair-Accessible Trains Last Year

In 2024, more wheelchair-accessible services and vehicles of České dráhy were provided and more people with impaired mobility travelled with this carrier as well. The railway carrier arranged for assistance at 9,348 transport operations last year. It put into service more than 110 additional wheelchair-accessible units, including more than 100 regional transport and direct low-floor units. Thanks to the larger number of barrier-free trainsets, the number of services accessible to wheelchair users increased to 7,131. Already 8 out of 10 trains of České dráhy are marked with the barrier-free symbol in the timetables.

“In cooperation with the clients ordering transport services, we continue to make railway transport accessible to people with impaired mobility. We have put into operation a record-breaking number of low-floor, wheelchair-accessible vehicles, which are equipped for the travel of wheelchair users, as well as elements for easy travelling for blind or deaf people. These include haptic elements, Braille signs, information monitors or doors operated by radios for blind and partially sighted people. Thanks to all these measures, we are succeeding in improving the quality of life of people with disabilities, which is reflected positively in their increased interest in travelling by train. Last year, we provided 764 more travel assistance services compared to the previous year and provided a record-breaking 9,348 travel assistance operations during transport of passengers with disabilities. We also significantly simplified access to travelling without the carrier assistance service,” says Michal Krapinec, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of České dráhy.

Altogether 9,348 journeys with the carrier's assistance in 2024 do not represent the total number of passengers with disabilities who used services of České dráhy. There are considerably more of them. A large number of people with disabilities, including e.g. wheelchair users, now travel alone or only accompanied by their relatives or friends and therefore do not appear in the statistics of assistance provided by the carrier. For other transports, the assistance is then provided by the rail system operator. For more than three thousand low-floor services of České dráhy, it is no longer a requirement for wheelchair users to book transport, but it is possible to travel on the board of trains without the assistance of the carrier without formalities. České dráhy carries more than 600,000 passengers annually in its own tariff system with discounted fares for people with disabilities (holders of ZTP and ZTP-P cards, disabled persons holding the 3rd degree card). Together with the tariffs of the individual integrated systems, approximately one million passengers with disabilities will then use České dráhy’s trains on an annual basis.

České dráhy currently has about 860 accessible carriages and units, of which about 75% are directly low-floor vehicles with floors at the height of modern platforms. Getting on and off these trains is also very comfortable for the elderly, small children, passengers with large and heavy luggage, parents of small children with prams, as well as for wheelchair users. These modern wheelchair-accessible trains have already begun to replace the first generation of trains on some lines, which are adapted for wheelchair travellers but still had a floor at a conventional height and boarding associated with climbing several steep steps.