To provide young people, who are blind or partially sighted, with the skills to travel independently and confidently on the train.
Over the years we have worked with several different groups of young people. We run a workshop with them which includes how to use Passenger Assistance and a handling collection for the young people to feel. Dan Pearce from GWR has attended all of these workshops and always brings along his piece of railway track for the young people to handle. After the workshop we take the group out on a train ride. If we can, we usually board the train ahead of its departure so that the group can move about the train to feel their way around before the train starts to move. This also includes taking them into the toilet and letting them feel for the door control buttons. We usually travel to Slough so that the young people can feel and hear the Intercity Express Trains travelling through Slough at 125 mph!
Since 2022 we have worked with over 50 young people. In 2024 we ran our first workshop for older people who are blind or partially sighted. In 2025 we started working with this group on the new Travelling with Confidence project and in February of this year we ran our first multi modal trip from Slough to Windsor on the train and back again on Thames Valley Buses.
“I just wanted to say thank you so much for running the train events that Tom was fortunate to attend. A couple of weeks ago, Tom independently travelled from Reading to Wolverhampton and back to stay with his friend for the weekend! We booked the special assistance Tom had found out about in his train sessions with Berkshire vision and I am in no doubt that those sessions provided him with the confidence to do this. He had a fantastic weekend and I’m so grateful for the support Tom had in learning about train travel.”