SEED PROJECT: Navigating rail transport after acquired brain injury

About the Project

Chief Investigator: Louise Bassingthwaighte

Image credit: Izak Hollins

About

After an acquired brain injury (ABI), many people experience a period of ‘driving disruption’, where they are not medically cleared to drive and need to access the community through other means, including public transport. This project seeks to understand the experiences of people who have an ABI when using trains. The research team will undertake walk-along interviews with current and previous clients of the Acquired Brain Injury Transitional Rehabilitation Service while undertaking a journey from one train station to another. We will pay particular attention to challenges they encounter, strategies used to facilitate the journey, and how the design and layout of the train station environment influences their experience. We anticipate that insights from this exercise will both inform clinical rehabilitation practice for community access training, and enrich current knowledge of Universal Design, especially for populations with impaired cognitive functioning.   

Aim and objective

There are two overarching aims of this study: (1) To investigate the experiences of people with moderate to severe ABI in accessing public transport environments/undertaking community access post-hospital discharge, and (2) To investigate the accessibility of suburban train station environments (including those with recently completed accessibility upgrades) for people with newly moderate to severe ABI in order to improve current understandings of best practice Universal Design of public transport infrastructure and systems.  

Project outcomes and impact

• Explored how people with acquired brain injury (ABI) use suburban rail transport during the transition from hospital to community living.
• Identified key cognitive accessibility challenges experienced during features that influence train travel, including attention, fatigue, wayfinding, information processing and decision-making.
• Highlighted environmental and transport features that improved influence feelings of safety, confidence and independence while travelling by train.
• Demonstrated the importance of community mobility training and transport support as part of rehabilitation following ABI.
• Informed the development of a practical clinical workbook, Getting Out in the Community: Using the Train, to support rehabilitation and build knowledge, skills, and confidence in community mobility after ABI.
• Contributed new evidence to support more inclusive and cognitively accessible public transport systems and infrastructure.
• Provided insights to help guide future Universal Design approaches for train stations and public transport environments.
• Strengthened understanding of how transport accessibility impacts participation, independence and quality of life after brain injury.
• Supported collaboration between researchers, clinicians, people with lived experience and transport stakeholders to improve accessibility outcomes.
• Findings from the project were presented at The Hopkins Centre Meet & Mingle event by Louise Bassingthwaighte and Izak Hollins. View presentation here.

People/organisations involved

• Metro South Health: Acquired Brain Injury Transitional Rehabilitation Service : Kerrin Watter, Mandy Nielsen, Stacy James
• The Hopkins Centre: Izak Hollins (THC Ambassador), Kelsey Chapman (Inclusive Futures), Louise Gustafsson, Coral Gillett
• Griffith University: Louise Bassingthwaighte
• Hassell Studio: Tanya Golitschenko

Project status and timeframe

Achieved:

• Ethics and governance approvals - MSH Ethics approval- HREC/2024/QMS/107807 (21/06/2024); Griffith University Ethics approval - GU Ref No: 2024/489 (10/07/2024)
• Project Advisory Group formed and commenced meetings
• Phase 1 focus group complete in October 2024
• Phase 2 Walk-along interviews: Commenced in March 2025 and will be completed by  end of May 2025

Projected timeframe