Monday’s Friday Reads – 25 November 2019

1. As ever, useful reads. The Which article is however 14 months old.

2. @centraluser

   So? The disabled travel process is still slow, cumbersome, and prone to errors that leave disabled travellers stranded.

3. Does anyone know what progress has been made in the last 14 months regarding communications about needs for disability assistance? Or training of staff? If someone is travelling from one staffed station, especially a large one with multiple staff, to another staffed station, there really should be no excuse for problems.

   To be fair, my local station seems pretty good, possibly because there are several commuters who use wheelchairs or guide dogs, but communication could still be better – I’ve ended up overshooting my stop a few times when the train has been changed to run fast from Clapham Jn to Carshalton or similar, because the visual display doesn’t get updated. Thameslink is particularly bad at displaying false information. It’s also a problem when I check my morning train is 8 cars, walk to where the front should stop so I have less far to walk at Victoria, but then only 4 coaches turn up and I don’t have time to walk back to the train before the train leaves – and Delay Repay refuses to pay up.

   Thankfully I don’t need a wheelchair any more (got stranded at Twickenham once when their stairlift broke, but luckily got assisted to slide up the banisters by a group of bikers – the station attendant had no idea what to do or how to arrange a taxi from the next station). And I know how railways work and have the confidence nowadays to sit on a table or in the way on the floor if no seats are available (and, just about, the ability to get up again… I really hope never to be on the floor London-Doncaster again, but actually getting some floor space was a major achievement!)

4. @HESSIE

   I think the update the National Rail Enquires “Darwin” to ensure that the correct number of coaches is displayed at all times is now scheduled for overnight on Wednesday the 27th November 2019.

   From this Thursday, the number of coaches shown for each train should be 100% accurate.

5. Is there a reason that the device to board the wheelchair can’t be part of the train, or stored on the train? And operable by (helpful passing) passengers, else remotely by the driver? Anything to break the dependence of the disabled passenger on railway staff turning up specially.

   The problem is harder to address in some other places. On the continent, there are many railways where the height difference between train cabin floor and the station platform can be several feet. Difficult even for the able-bodied to board a bicycle. I have seen some trains with devices to board wheelchairs up these height differences. But they are far from universal and in some cases can be quite large pieces of machinery occupying a substantial part of the train cabin. I noticed a comment on the Czech Railways website that you have to book assistance 48 hours ahead as they may have to arrange to form the train with a suitable carriage.

6. @IVAN25 November 2019 at 17:41
   Is there a reason that the device to board the wheelchair can’t be part of the train, or stored on the train? And operable by (helpful passing) passengers, else remotely by the driver?

   I agree if it can be done on the buses should be able to be done on trains. And I think it will only take a test case for it to be mandated, but possibly 15 years to be implemented.

7. IF one had an old-fashioned “guard’s van” or part of a unit that looked like that, then it’s quite easy. As the Kent & East Sussex have demonstrated here
   You will, of course, need a hinged ramp on both sides.
   And also probably a “second-man” ( Or woman ) on the train, which is a cause of dispute in some places at present …..

8. Re Greg, Simon, Brian & Hessie,

   The new Stadler Bi-Mode units for Anglia and the new Merseyrail EMUs have low floor and extending ramps. (Swiss solution brought over to the UK).

   But the ramp don’t actually touch the platforms in some cases and Merseytravel are having to find an extra 8 digit sum to cover getting the platform level sorted to the ramps can touch them (they were sold the trains as an overall cost saving not having to spend money on platform levels or lengthening both of which turned out not to be true…)

   It results in a dual floor level unit with higher floors above the bogies so no wide gangway units and huge amount of usable floor space /width is lost so not good for high capacity commuter routes into London due to loss of capacity and only really works if you use Jacobs bogies (articulation) which causes lots of axle load issues and limits vehicle length significantly in the UK. (Great Anglia had to reduce the size of diesel tanks to get the weight down).
   It also means that there is no space for heavy equipment under the floor and many current lighter weight UK spec designs are already at the limits of stability at max speeds in some locations as they have become a little too top heavy.

   HS2 have specified extending platform touching ramps in their Rolling Stock tender (bids were in 7 months ago). with conventional floor height.

   Hence very much an option for the next generation of standard floor height UK rolling stock but not on the DfT radar (yet). But probably best to develop to achieve high reliability first

9. @Brian Butterworth

   Thank you – I look forward to more accurate info! (goes off to look up how info re short-formed trains will get into the system).

10. “So? The disabled travel process is still slow, cumbersome, and prone to errors that leave disabled travellers stranded.”

    My friend (wheelchair user) never has this problem she calls for a minicab, they always send the same driver. Everything works fine.

    I travel by train several times a week, trains are late, information is incorrect or confusing, trains are cancelled, staff are nowhere to be found, trains are packed and no seats are available, I do not see why the disabled should expect a better service.

11. TJ: A little more sympathy would not go amiss. Wheelchair users using public transport have to face all the issues that those of us who can walk about also face (which are indeed sometimes as bad as you describe) PLUS the additional ones as described in the article.

    Yes, of course wheelchair users can use minicabs just as you describe. But then so could you, if you made that choice. The fact remains that it would be impossible for all urban travel to be done by minicabs, there just are not enough minicabs or drivers or road space or fuel reserves in the world.

    One strategy would be for public transport to make no effort for wheelchair users. This is what historically local buses have always done until relatively recently. But, however satisfied your friend might be, many people with disabilities of all kinds would prefer to have the same range of choices of how to travel as the rest of us enjoy. They do not expect a better service, simply (as far as possible) an equal one.

12. @Malcolm – ‘They do not expect a better service, simply (as far as possible) an equal one’. But in terms of road transport at least, wheelchair users DO get a better service. Two years ago, my wife managed to comprehensively break several bones in her ankle and those that weren’t broken were dislocated. So, for 7 or 8 months I was Chief Wheelchair Pusher. I was astounded – when we were waiting at the back of taxi queues at both Paddington and Kings Cross, and for a car park shuttle bus at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff – to be ushered to the front of the queue and put in the next taxi/bus. We were both willing to wait our turn and didn’t seek any preferential treatment. I really couldn’t see the justification, when accessible public road transport is just about universal.
    Was there a court case a year or so ago when a mother with baby in pushchair was required to leave an already full bus so that a wheelchair user could get on?

13. There was such a case. The key point was that the mother refused to fold the buggy and vacate the space, which would require waking the baby. TFLs own site says that wheelchair users do not have the right to bounce existing passengers off the bus if it is full, but in all other cases they have priority to the wheelchair space. The advice to people with baby buggies is to fold it or, if they prefer not to disturb the baby, obtain a transfer ticket from the driver and take a later bus.

Comments are closed.