EU regulations require that public transportation systems be accessible for everyone without any restrictions. This includes not only disabled people, but also elderly, passengers with baby carriages, big sized luggage etc., i.e. all people with some kind of reduced mobility. Assuring accessibility for all is an inevitable future obligation for railway operators. The interface between the platform and the rail vehicle is one of the largest railway accessibility problems particularly for wheelchair users. To advance the current situation a project consortium (PubTrans4All) funded by the EU in FP7 will develop a new boarding assistance system that can be used not only by wheelchair users, but by other people with reduced mobility.

Keywords: accessibility, vehicle entrance, boarding assistance device, PRM