Gateway to the Tapestry Town
4.5
4.5
Date of visit: May 2022
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: a hidden impairment and moving around.
Overall Rating
Excellent
The railway station is fairly new as part of the Borders railway and is served by regular trains from Edinburgh at one end of the line and Tweedbank at the other. As stations go, Galashiels is pretty good as the platform is adjacent to the Interchange. A transport hub where you can switch from buses to trains and vice versa.
Disabled Access In and Around
Excellent
Disabled access was well thought out with both entrances easy to find, well signposted and wheelchair accessible. The railway station side had a pelican crossing adjacent which led to the ramp up to the station platform; there's only one. The second entrance led down toward the main carpark and the separate walkway into the main part of the town.
Parking & Transport
Excellent
The transport options from the station were amazingly good. The Interchange, the local transport hub, gives you direct access to a range of bus services travelling throughout the Borders and beyond. Within the Interchange building you can buy tickets, pop by the Cafe, use the toilets, or rest a while on the seating whilst you wait for your service to pop up on the screens that display all the arrivals and departures. The building was spacious, easy to wheel through and well laid out for finding what's where. Of the two exits / entrances, one leads to a pedestrian crossing and on to the railway platform and the other down toward the main car park and onward across a bridge over the burn to the heart of the town. A five minute walk from the Interchange to Channel Street, one of the town's main thoroughfares and the route to the Great Tapestry building.
Accessible Toilets
Excellent
A great example of how accessible toilets should be! Within the Interchange, adjacent to the railway station, there were standard toilets, an accessible toilet and then a Changing Places Toilet. I used the Changing Places which was spotlessly clean, a great size and all the equipment was clean, well maintained and working. I was delighted to see this as sometimes this isn't the case. The door had a RADAR lock with was fab as there was no need to go hunting to find someone to open the door as I always carry a key.
