Each one of Britain’s 2565 mainline stations will be assessed to create a new public database to help disabled people to better plan their journeys and help inform future investment.

The pledge, first mentioned by the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail in May, is repeated in the Government’s new National Disability Strategy published last week. The strategy also sets out plans to install tactile paving on all platforms and develop a Passenger Assist app to simplify communication with rail staff.

As part of the strategy, new regulations will be introduced to force bus companies to provide audible and visual announcements on board services.

Legislation will also be introduced to protect disabled taxi passengers from being overcharged and to better ensure they get the right help from drivers. More accessible charge points for electric vehicles are also promised and measures to reduce parking on footways will be made later this year. In addition, a further £450,000 is pledged to deliver more accessible toilets through the Changing Places programme.

Transport Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “Disabled passengers should be empowered to use all forms of transport with the same confidence as everyone else.”

Rail Delivery Group chief executive Jacqueline Starr said: “We want disabled people to feel confident on their train journeys and the measures to improve customer information and install tactile paving will help to achieve that.”

Muscular Dystrophy UK’s campaigns director Robert Burley described the strategy as a move in the right direction to help tackle the exclusion that many disabled people face on a daily basis.

However one group described the strategy as being “disappointingly thin on immediate actions, medium term plans and the details of longer term investment”.

Disability Rights UK chief executive Kamran Mallick said: “The strategy has insufficient concrete measures to address the current inequalities that disabled people experience. There are scant plans and timescales on how to bring about vastly needed improvements to benefits, housing, social care, jobs, education, transport and equitable access to wider society.”

(Photograph: Elliott Brown and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)