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| Re: DVARP petition for SEPTA regional rail bathrooms (1169396) | |||
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Re: DVARP petition for SEPTA regional rail bathrooms |
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Posted by WillD on Sun Jul 29 17:31:20 2012, in response to Re: DVARP petition for SEPTA regional rail bathrooms, posted by Joe V on Sun Jul 29 13:08:24 2012. Metra and Caltrain do not have high level platformsYes, that makes their wheelchair lifts even more difficult to implement because they have to be integrated into the steps on the Gallery cars. SEPTA has a door which goes unused at low platform stations under which a prospective Silverliner VI could have the wheelchair lift installed without interfering with the low platform operation when it is not needed. nor does each and every car have a wheelchair lift. SEPTA doesn't have to do that either. Order the Silverliner VIs to be compatible with the Vs and operate trains consisting of a mix of ADA compliant VIs and non-compliant Vs, like Boston and Portland have done with their LRVs. In general SEPTA's trains are short enough that moving a wheelchair passenger a car length or two to board should not significantly impact the schedule. That is, at least when compared to the utter mess that resulted when an NJT NEC train with 2-3 Comet IIMs in the consist managed to stop with the nearest Comet III, IV, or V more than 160 feet from the nearest wheelchair loading location. SEPTA has mini high level platforms at most "low level' stations with a bridge plate. Except that they don't. Out of 153 total stations in the Regional Rail system just about 60 are ADA compatible, and many of those are high platform stations. That's just over a third of the total network, and probably close to a fifth of all low platform stations being equipped to accommodate the needs of wheelchair passengers. SEPTA faces a major capital expenditure if they're to convert the entire Regional Rail network to an ADA compatible system within even on a 25 year schedule. Wheelchair lifts avert that expenditure, allowing SEPTA to decouple their high platform construction efforts from ADA compliance and instead focus on installing high platforms at heavily used stations where the reduction in dwell time can have a greater impact on schedules. It's also worth noting that a wheelchair lift is a lot more forgiving than a mini-high in an operational sense. While a wheelchair passenger has to be placed in the proper car which will align with the mini-high upon boarding at a high platform station, and then that car has to be spotted properly (and thus, slowly) at that passenger's station, the wheelchair lift equipped car can be spotted just like any other station stop. And of course, wheelchair lifts need not be external. The Swedish X50 Regina EMUs have a dedicated low platform door with an internal wheelchair lift that raises and turns the wheelchair passenger, and doubles as handrails for the stairs when not in use. Beyond that the SJ Green Train concept would have the entire entryway raise and lower to the platform height to provide completely barrierless travel. You are simply WRONG about SEPTA, ADA, I'll admit there are some stations in the system where accessibility is less a matter of getting the wheelchair passenger from the platform to the train, and more a matter of getting them from the street to the platform. Wheelchair lifts will not solve those problems. But high platforms cannot physically be installed in some locations on the SEPTA system without major, expensive, changes to the track layout at those locations. Wheelchair lifts provide an affordable alternative to an extremely costly undertaking. and the necessity of equipping every car with a lift. Again, every car does not need to be equipped with a wheelchair lift. But every train would need to have a car in the consist with a wheelchair lift. |
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