Accessibility

Overview

Network Rail is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. We are working to increase the accessibility and usability of our website and in doing so follow many of the available standards and guidelines.

We also routinely check web pages, when updates are made to existing pages and when new pages are published – to ensure that they meet accessibility requirements.

Whilst we work to the accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website. We acknowledge that this is a work in progress and there are improvements that can be made. 

Using this website

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

What to do if you can’t access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please contact us.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, please contact us.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your feedback, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Network Rail is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below

Issues with PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader. The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Access keys

We haven’t used access keys as they can often interfere with the default keyboard shortcuts of modern browsers. The content is easily tab-navigable and screen-reader friendly. See how you can adapt the website to meet your needs.

What we’ve done to make this website accessible

W3C standards for HTML and CSS.

This site has been built using code compliant with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards for HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

The site displays correctly in current browsers and using standards compliant HTML/CSS code means any future browsers will also display it correctly. Additional technologies including JavaScript have been utilised, however, this website is not reliant on these technologies as they are only used to enhance functionality. Every effort has been made to make these technologies as accessible as possible.

Mobile considerations

The site has been built responsively, so that it adapts on smaller devices, allowing the user to view and navigate the content with ease. The responsive site has been developed with reference to the work of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), taking into consideration the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2) and Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP 1.0).

iOS and Android devices have several built-in assistive features that users can take advantage of. For more information please see the following links:

Android accessibility features

iOS accessibility features

Downloadable files

We have made files available to download in a variety of formats. The most common are: Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), Microsoft Word (.doc and .docx), and Microsoft Excel (.xls and .xlsx).

If you are unable to open these types of documents, please download and install the latest versions of the free viewer software and online apps:

Adobe Acrobat Reader download page

Microsoft Word Online

Microsoft Excel Online

How to adapt the website to meet your needs

AbilityNet’s My Computer My Way site offers a guide to making your PC accessible, including help with seeing the screen, using your keyboard and mouse, and with language and reading.

Making changes to your operating system:

Advice from the BBC showing users how to make full use of accessibility settings in browsers and operating systems.

Advice for Microsoft users

Advice for Apple users

Testing and conformance

This website was last tested on 16/06/19 by the Network Rail Digital Team.

This accessibility statement was issued on 21/06/2019.