Deaf passengers on the London Overground will soon have a more convenient time thanks to newly enforced training.

Arriva Rail (ARL) has started to roll out deaf awareness training to 350 of London Overground employees to improve journeys for deaf people and those with a hearing loss travelling across the capital.

A comprehensive training programme has been developed by ARL working alongside various companies. Signly, an app which displays pre-recorded sign language videos, and Deafax, a charity which aids deaf people.

University College London’s deafness and cognition and language research centre has also provided relevant research to the programme.

Tim Scannell, a frequent rail user, said: “As I am Deaf, I can’t hear station announcements over the tannoy. I get nervous about asking other passengers for journey advice, especially if there are changes to the service.

“Being able to communicate more easily with station staff would help to reduce my anxiety.”

ARL employees will undergo a deaf awareness programme led by a deaf trainer to address accessibility issues for deaf people and will be ready to fully assist passengers by the end of 2019.

The training will cover a range of topics from deaf culture and identity, to degrees of deafness, communication barriers, lip reading, fingerspelling and techniques for assisting and communicating with customers who are deaf or have a hearing loss.

The development of the programme has been funded by the Rail Safety and Standards Board, with hopes to provide deaf passengers a safer and supportive system in case they require any help during their journeys.

Mark Applin, co-founder of Signly, said: “The enthusiasm of ARL colleagues at all levels throughout this project has been overwhelming.

“Their shared insights enabled the creation of rail-specific training tool that could make a real difference to the passenger experience for people who are deaf or have a hearing loss. And even better, it seems to have an ignited a passion among many colleagues to learn more.”