On 5 and 6 February, the 20th meeting of Passenger Accessibility Solutions Support and Action Group for Europe (PASSAGE) Working Group was held at ČD headquarters in Prague. The meeting was hosted by Mr Jaromír Fól, who works for the Pricing and Product Communication Department within ČD and was attended by representatives from Italy, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Belgium, France, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria.

The meeting was started by Ms Zuzana Cechova, Director of Pricing and Communication Department, who highlighted the importance of carriers and IMs to be prepared for the new PRR 1371 under process.

All the representatives reported on the latest news from their companies and from their countries about accessibility in the railways and the state-of-the-art of digitalisation in PRM assistance.

The second day was devoted to the PRM ABT and the technical visit. It was the opportunity for David Sarfatti (AVANCIAL) to present the latest statistics in the use of the UIC Booking Assistance Tool, whose activity is steadily growing by making international journeys for PRMS possible.

The technical visit was to Praha Hlavní Nádraží, the main station in Prague, where the attendees of the meeting could check on the improvements in the field of accessibility that had been achieved by ČD. An adapted rolling stock was shown, and staff from ČD gave a demonstration of the use of a platform to give access to the train.

The next meeting will take place in Naples kindly hosted by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS), from 21 – 22 May 2019.