How to minimize access hurdles for railway passengers

To raise the share of public transport in long-distance travel, the involved transport companies have to work out strategies to win new customers. In this paper a journey by train is considered as consisting of a number of hurdles. These hurdles have different heights for different groups of customers. Because of the great number of inexperienced travellers in long-distance travel, there is a special need for information and assistance. At present, the Deutsche Bahn AG concentrates on improvements of its operational field. In this paper measures resulting in improvements in the fields of "image" and "pre-trip-information" are proposed because they are considered as essential for winning new customers. To compete with individual transport, public transport companies have to develop self-assessment of their position as service companies for mobility. For this, they have to cooperate with each other as well as with local authorities.