A walkway includes a succession of substantially flat belts (50,52,54) and a handrail (56). The walkway includes an accelerating section comprising at least one relatively short belt (50,52) leading to a faster moving longer belt (54). The hand rail (56) moves at the speed of the longer belt (54) and the speed of the shorter belt (50,52) is such that substantially no passenger will reach a state of imbalance requiring correction by foot movement on the belt. The walkway may have more than one such accelerating section.