The 21st meeting of Passenger Accessibility Solutions Support and Action Group for Europe (PASSAGE) Working Group was held on 8 and 9 March at the headquarters of DSB in Høje Tåstrup, near Copenhagen. The meeting was hosted by Mr Hans Christian Kirketerp-Møller, chairman of the group. UIC was represented by Mr Luis Casado Presa, Senior Advisor of the Passenger Department.
The meeting was attended by representatives from ZSSK, SNCF, RENFE, NMBS/SNCB, MAV-START, SBB, CD, NS, AVANCIAL and CER. As usual the meeting started with the report from all the attendees on the latest news from their companies about accessibility in the railways, which led to lively discussions about the implementation of measures in the different countries. This was followed by a report from the CER about the new European Union legislation, particularly the Passenger Rights Regulation and the Intermodality Act that may affect the projects of the different companies in accessibility.

There was also a discussion about the new initiatives to be put into practice by the group. There were several discussions on which would be the most convenient project to start with, given the different proposals made by the attendees and the different interests of the companies.

Finally, the traditional technical visit was substituted by an explanation about the reduction of the pre-booking time of assistance in DSB, which could be an example for other companies.

The next meeting will take place in Belgium, hosted by NMBS/SNCB, on 14 and 15 June 2016.