Accessibility Statement

Accessible travel 

We believe everyone should be free to explore Europe by train, and it should be easy to plan your adventure from start to finish. At Eurail, this means that you can plan your trip, get a pass, book seat reservations, check train times, and show your ticket upon inspection. For the full experience we rely on our European rail partners to help make your trip as smooth as possible. We’re committed to making our website and app accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. We have made solid progress and continue working on it regularly.

Contact us

If you encounter something that makes your experience harder than it should be, or if you have suggestions to help us do better, we’d love to hear from you. We read every message and will make every effort to assist you and fix any barriers quickly. We’ll do our best to get back to you by email within 24 hours.  

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European Accessibility Act

Eurail is committed to meeting the general accessibility requirements and the specific accessibility requirements for e-commerce services as set out in the European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882/EU). To help us do this, we will apply the standards set out in EN 301 549 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Level AA 2.2 (WCAG) to our websites and Rail Planner app. We do our best to meet 56 success criteria that improve your digital experience with our services. 

As of now, Eurail is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) - Level AA - 2.2, based on issues discovered in audits and usability tests. Our goal is to remedy these issues as soon as possible.  

If this information is difficult to you, let's make it understandable: Whether you’re planning your next trip or simply looking for inspiration, we want to make sure nothing gets in your way. The European Accessibility Act legally requires us to do that, and the WCAG gives us guidance. 

State of our services

We are aware that some people with disabilities experience barriers in our digital platforms. Removing those barriers is our priority, and we want to be transparent about our progress. Below, we'll provide high-level information about how you can perceive our content and where you could experience difficulties.   

1. You should be able to:

• Distinguish text from background 

Our content has sufficient colour contrast that allows you to read it with increased visibility. This helps when you have a visual impairment or stand in bright sunlight.

• Resize text in the app

Our Rail Planner App supports custom text sizing on iOS and Android devices, so you can use the text size you prefer configured in your device settings for easier reading. 

• Skip to main content

You can bypass repeating content like the navigation and navigate directly to the main content on a page. This is especially useful when you rely on a screen reader.

• Use a screen reader

Most functionality and information is available to screen readers, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

• Access video content

The videos hosted on our website, social media channels, and YouTube include a text alternative that can be narrated by screen readers so more travellers can access our stories and tips. 

• Get help from our customer service

When things go wrong, we will do our best to assist you.

2. Where you may experience difficulties

• Clear and concise language

We are working on using simpler words and sentences, removing jargon, and providing translations.

• Keyboard navigation

Most of our content can be navigated by only using a keyboard, but there are still exceptions.

• Extensive screen reader support

Our support for screen readers is minimal and needs to be optimized.

• Many steps to complete tasks

We aim to reduce the number of steps and make tasks easier and more intuitive.

• Screen orientation in the app

It's currently not possible to rotate your device and use a landscape screen orientation.

• Purchasing a Pass

Entering your personal information in our checkout may not work with a screen reader.

• Booking reservations

Finding reservations and selecting an offer can be difficult, especially with screen readers. Due to limited availability, offers may become unavailable after a short time. This is a time constraint and could be too short to complete your order.

3. How we tested our services

We tested our most viewed and crucial pages (web) and screens (app) against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.

The audit was carried out by our internal teams using manual and automated testing tools.

How our services become more accessible

• We prioritise crucial flows: making the planning and travel experience barrier-free
• Newly built features should adhere to accessibility standards
• We are continuously curing inaccessible areas on our website and app
• We conduct manual and automated tests, and usability tests with users with disabilities to gather their feedback
• We take customer complaints seriously, value your input, and act on it
• We offer (mandatory) accessibility courses to our staff and provide an additional training budget that they can use to learn more about accessibility

Travel assistance

Arrange boarding

You have the right to be assisted while getting on and off the train, as well as being transferred to a connecting train. To get the best assistance, we recommend that you make your arrangements with the concerned railway company at least 24 hours before your departure. We have listed the contact methods for each country and railway company on the page below:

Travel with reduced mobility

Travel with a companion

If you need to be accompanied on your trip, you can apply for a free complimentary pass for a companion or caregiver. We'll need your first and last name, date of birth, country of residence, and a copy of your disability card (or equivalent).

Apply for a complimentary Pass

Complaint procedure

If you've experienced any difficulties on our website or app, we hope that you will reach out to us and allow us to help you out.

Sources and useful information

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2
• European Accessibility Act directive on EUR-Lex