22/04/2020 (Agence Europe) – As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, several European railway companies – Belgian and French in particular – have withdrawn their assistance service for the disabled. This measure constitutes an “infringement” of the regulation on rail passengers’ rights (1371/2007), Marie Denninghaus, a member of the European Disability Forum (EDF), recalled on Wednesday 22 April during an online conference on passenger rights. The Regulation provides for assistance to be provided to disabled persons in trains and stations. And there is no clause, Ms Denninghaus asserted, that allows this assistance to stop in the event of a crisis. EDF has written to the Commission requesting that such a situation can no longer be authorised. “Assistance has to be resumed, if it has been suspended, as soon as all normal passenger services” resume, said Ms Denninghaus. (AC)