Handbook> Handbook for the operator

RAILWAY TRANSPORT

In order to grant full accessibility of the service for disabled people, operators should consider the following points:

1. availability of trains with equipped coaches
2. railway station accessibility
3. clear and reliable timetable information on the arrival of equipped trains
4. assistance service for disabled passengers at arrival/departure stations

Let’s now analyse these points in detail.

Trains with equipped coaches
Full accessibility of coaches is granted by:

• step-free access to get on the passenger coach (low floor)
• specially allocated wheelchair spaces
• Acoustic signals for blind people
• Visual signals for deaf people
• Disabled toilet

Only some models of trains (the most recent ones) have these characteristics. Some trains do not have any of these setting ups for disabled passengers. Other trains only have some of the above mentioned characteristics for disabled people but do not have a low floor, consequently they have steps in the entrance. In these cases, a lifting truck, operated by the railway station’s staff, grants access to the passenger coach (only where this service is provided).
When considering circulating trains, the most common setting ups for disabled people are disabled toilets and specially allocated wheelchair spaces.
We seldom find acoustic and visual signals for the sensory impaired.
On the contrary, it is essential that new trains in service are fully accessible to people with any disability and it is advisable that old, non accessible trains are substituted with equipped new ones.

Railway station accessibility
A railway station is fully accessible when it allows a disabled person to go independently and in total safety from the car park to the entrance and from the entrance to the main areas of the infrastructure: ticket office, waiting room, toilets and platforms.
Full accessibility and safety for a disabled passenger mean the elimination of all possible architectural barriers along these routes and the introduction of specific devices for the sensory impaired: clear direction signs, tactile maps, tactile safety features, visual and acoustic announcements.
Particularly, in order to reach the platforms, passengers have to use subways and they are not authorized to cross rail tracks.
Disabled passengers can use subways when there are lifts. Otherwise, they can get across the tracks by using a footbridge (subways with lifts are still few) but, in this case, they need to be accompanied by the railway station staff because this is not a safe operation.
It is thus essential that more and more platforms can be reached independently and in total safe by using subways with lifts.
When passenger coaches have a low floor, for a disabled passenger to be completely independent, the platform should be on the same level as the coach’s entrance. On the contrary, in many stations platform’s height is lower than needed and this requires planning a number of interventions.
The lack of an official and precise mapping on the degree of accessibility Lombardy’s railway stations is a further obstacle to the use of the railway service by disabled passengers.

Timetable information on the arrival of equipped trains
Trenitalia has an official timetable where equipped trains are marked with the wheelchair pictogram. Disabled passengers using wheelchair can only travel on these trains, by booking the assistance service ahead.
Ferrovie Nord Milano’s official timetable points out equipped trains with a note and a disabled passenger has to book the assistance service an hour in advance. As far as other trains are concerned, Ferrovie Nord allows a disabled passenger to send an application at least three days in advance and reserves the right to grant an equipped train for that day and time.
Generally speaking, the fact that official timetables give information on equipped trains is certainly positive for a disabled person who, at any time, can know which trains are equipped for the transport of disabled people.
Trenitalia does not foresee the possibility for a customer to require an equipped train on a line that, according to the official timetable, have a normal train.
This is an element of non flexibility of the service: a passenger in a wheelchair can only use equipped trains even if these are in days and times that are not suitable for his/her needs.
Ferrovie Nord Milano are more flexible because the company checks the possibility to satisfy the demand of a disabled passenger even when equipped trains are not scheduled.
On its website, www.trenitalia.it, Trenitalia has a section dedicated to disabled passengers and a leaflet called “I servizi per la clientela disabile” available at ticket offices.
It is desirable that Ferrovie Nord develops a communication policy that might be more explicit and specifically thought for disabled people.

Assistance service for disabled people
Both Trenitalia and Ferrovie Nord Milano provide an assistance service for disabled passengers for getting on and off the trains.
The service can be booked ahead, by following a procedure that is different according to the operator, but such procedure is always necessary for people in wheelchair.
The advance required is generally rather long and this doesn’t allow disabled person to decide to undertake a journey in short terms.
Trenitalia requires booking at least 12 hours before departure, while Ferrovie Nord has a more articulated procedure because the request should be transmitted:

• 1 hour before departure, if the official timetable says that the desired train can transport people in wheelchair;
• 3 working days before departure for all other trains
• at least 5 days before departure for groups with more than one mobility impaired persons.

Both operators should make an effort in order to reduce significantly the advance required for booking.

Another problem concerns the fact that both operators can’t grant the assistance service in all stations. Generally the service is present in all main stations, but in order to promote a real mobility of disabled passengers this service should be extended to other stations too.
Furthermore, for a disabled customer it is not always easy to know in advance which are the stations covered with the assistance service, particularly when dealing with minor stations.
We are still in a phase in which it has not been clearly defined which are the main points a disabled person can rely on when planning a journey. The procedure foresees that a disabled passenger sends his/her request without exactly knowing which are his/her rights and where operators’ discretionary power in accepting his/her booking end.

Some ambiguous situations should be solved  as soon as possible in favour of clearer and better defined regulations and procedures.
We suggest giving maximum attention to staff training, particularly when training concerns those people who will provide assistance and information service to people with disabilities.