Croeso i Abertawe / Welcome to Swansea
4
4
Date of visit: October 2025
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.
I use or have experience of: disabled toilet, wheelchair
Overall Rating
Good
Swansea train station is a fairly small station which I found very easy to navigate. The staff were really friendly and helpful from the moment I arrived to the moment I departed. They were waiting with a ramp to assist me off the train and assisted me onto my return train in plenty of time before its departure. It had two accessible toilets, one of which was a Changing Places toilet. All the toilets were behind the ticket barriers but staff were happy to assist with getting through the barriers when I missed them the first time around! The whole station is on one level, so there are no lifts or stairs to navigate. All the platforms had tactile paving to mark the edge of the platforms and there was seating on them too. The station had a covered waiting room, a ticket office with a lowered counter, an information and assistance desk, a Costa and a WHSmith. Everything was very clearly marked and signposted.
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
The station is all on one level so there are no stairs or lifts to access any part of the station. The main entrance was easily identifiable from the street with the National Rail symbol and Abertawe and Swansea on either side of it. There was another way to enter and leave the station which was on the side and this came out directly by some bus stops and places for taxis to stop. The station had four platforms in total and each had tactile markings to highlight the edge. A ramp was required as I needed step-free access to get on and off the trains as the trains weren’t level with the platforms. The staff were very friendly and prompt to assist me with this. The platforms all had seating at various points so you could sit if you were waiting for a train to arrive or start boarding. There were canopies on the platforms that provided shelter for around half of the platform. In the main station building there were a number of different areas. The whole area had a tiled flooring which was very smooth to roll across. The ticket office had automatic sliding doors and a lowered counter. The desks inside there had hearing loop symbols, showing a hearing loop was available when communicating with staff. There were also a number of ticket machines that were available to be used, however, the screen may be too high for some people. A small Costa Coffee and WHSmith were also in this area. In the centre was an information desk which was also where to meet the assistance staff. There was always a member of staff there when I was in the station. There was a small amount of seating underneath the information boards for expected trains and their timings. Costa Coffee also had small additional seating. The ticket barriers had a wider barrier at either end and there was also always at least one member of staff by them. Once you went through the ticket barrier, there were the four platforms, the waiting areas and all the toilets. The flooring from here onwards was mainly concrete, the toilets had tiled floors. The waiting area had automatic sliding doors and seating inside. On one side there was a standard accessible toilet and on the other was a Changing Places toilet.
Accessible facilities: Single-level venue, Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals, Step-free access to most areas
Parking & Transport
Good
I travelled to this place by train
At this station you can access train services operated by Transport for Wales and Great Western Railway. These provide services to Fishguard Harbour, Manchester Piccadilly, Carmarthen, Milford Haven, Shrewsbury, London Paddington, Cardiff Central, Pembroke Dock and other stations in between. The side exit from the station leads you out to where you can access a number of bus services, including 4, 4A, 16, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 34, 35, 36, 49, 52, 54, 89, 91, 111, N91, X6, X11, X13, X13A and X26. This area was also where taxis stopped. The station had an area outside the main entrance where cars could drop off and pick up people. There were also two disabled spaces in this area. There was a large multi-storey car park directly next to the station. It is operated by Swansea Council and has around 626 spaces including 28 accessible spaces and six EV charging stations. It has a height restriction of 1.98 metres, is open 24/7 and is a paid car park. It’s also been given the Park Mark Safer Parking award; this is an accreditation by the British Transport Police, which means it has been vetted by them and has measures in place to make it safer to park in.
Accessible facilities: Drop-off or pick up point, Public or on street parking
Accessible Toilets
Good
The accessible toilets were both through the ticket barriers. On one side was a smaller accessible toilet with baby-changing facilities and on the other was a Changing Places toilet. They both had large doors that needed a RADAR key to enter them. Both of the doors opened outwards and weren’t heavy. The smaller accessible toilet was really quite small. I struggled to manage in this toilet with my manual wheelchair with its power attachment on. The door didn’t have a grab rail on the inside so I had to try and reach the RADAR key handle to be able to close the toilet which I found very tricky given the limited space. The door locked by pushing the handle up. There was a very small amount of space for a left-side transfer with three grab rails surrounding the toilet. One was a grab rail that could be raised and lowered as required, next to this one was a fixed, vertical grab rail, and on the other side of the toilet was a fixed, horizontal grab rail underneath the toilet roll dispenser. The toilet had a cushioned back rest that could be used to lean on and the flush was on the cistern. Another problem was that the flush was on the opposite side of the cistern to the transfer area which made it more difficult to reach. To the right of the toilet was a small sink that had one tap that was manually operated (no automatic sensors). The tap twisted to control both the temperature and flow of the water. On either side of the sink were fixed, vertical grab rails and between them was an automatic hand dryer. To the right of the sink was a manual soap dispenser. There were also baby-changing facilities in this toilet and the red emergency cord hung freely to the floor. The Changing Places toilet was absolutely huge and had more than enough space. Inside was a ceiling hoist, a height-adjustable changing bench, a Closomat toilet and a height-adjustable sink. The door did have a fixed, horizontal grab rail on the inside which made it much easier to close. The door locked by pushing the handle up. To the right as you entered were the ceiling hoist and height-adjustable changing bench. There was a paper dispenser mounted on the wall for the bench, but it wasn’t stocked with paper when I was there. On the left as you came into the toilet was the Closomat toilet. It had plenty of room for a right- or left-side transfer and there were two grab rails on each side, one that could be raised and lowered as required and the other was a fixed, vertical grab rail. The two adjustable rails had a toilet roll placed on them which made it very easy to reach. The toilet had two large buttons on either side which could be used to flush the toilet. However, one of them wasn’t working and was covered with yellow and black tape when I was there. The other button worked well. This was a Closomat toilet, but the control had been dropped behind the sanitary bins which were placed next to the toilet. In the centre was the height-adjustable sink. The lever to control the height was on the right-hand side. It was a large, wide sink with a single tap which twisted to control both the temperature and flow of the water. On the left of the sink, a fixed, vertical grab rail was mounted to the wall. On the right was a manual soap dispenser and then another fixed, vertical grab rail. To the right of these was an automatic hand dryer, this was a Dyson one that required you to put your hands vertically down into the machine and pull them out again which might be a difficult angle for some people. There was one emergency cord by the toilet which was hanging freely to the floor. I didn’t see any privacy screens or information about the equipment, such as weight limits or instructions.
Facilities: Closomat toilet, Accessible toilet, Changing Places toilet
Staff
Excellent
The staff were really helpful and attentive. When I arrived they were there with a ramp to help me off the train. They checked in with me to make sure I knew where I was going from there. I passed through the ticket barriers and then realised I had missed the loos so someone was very happy to let me through the barriers to get to them. When I came back for my return journey they were really helpful and friendly again. They were very punctual and made sure I was on my train in plenty of time before the train’s departure.
