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Amtrak ADA Compliant Platform Question
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jdamelio-- <br /> <br />My condolences for your troubles. There must be reasonable accommodation made for paying customers. <br /> <br />Your Palatka FL problem sounds more like a station/crew issue than anything else. <br /> <br />While a high platform will certainly help you at PHL, you must remember that it will not clear a freight car, so installation of high platforms out in the hinterlands, particularly on joint freight lines (single or double track) would require installation of a cost-prohibitive gantlet track on the active platform track(s) so that the freights can be shunted off to the side away from the platform for clearance. This track must be longer than the platform and would require power switches and interlocking, for a cost (nominal 1000' platform) of about $600-800K per track, or more. And there are other issues. For instance, here in TX such a high platform cannot be built legally except on a dedicated passenger station track; construction on a joint freight track violates the Texas Clearance Law. Technically, we have trouble with even 8" TOR platforms, but some in that range may have accidentally occurred. <br /> <br />And, above Orlando (in your area) that high level platform like at PHL would not work with the Superliners on 1&2. Nor would it work south of West Palm, because it blocks the doors on the TriRail bilevels. <br /> <br />The only other fixed alternative is a ramp and on-board bridge, which works fine as long as (1) the consist is fixed, (2) the HC door is always in the same place, and (3) that door can be accessed by a train going either direction without causing traffic/operational issues. While such a ramp works well in LRT and commuter/regional rail contexts, it is not well-suited to long distance intercity because none of the above 3 conditions is a given. And on a train with sleepers, you need at least two if the train stops once. <br /> <br />That leaves either a portable ramp or a lift, both of which are dependent on manpower, and both of which delay the train. Unfortunately, that's the price you have to pay. If your station is staffed, they should be prearranging the stop and setting up the lift to minimize delay. Sounds like that is not happening. <br /> <br />But be happy! Out here in the west where we don't deserve a staffed station, the disabled are, with only a few exceptions, simply out of luck unless you can rustle together a posse to lift the chair into the Superliner's vestibule. <br /> <br />But that's OK, because according to Amtrak and a lot of politicos (of both parties--let's not get a flaming contest going here), those people-shaped things you see in the windows of the train are actually either: <br /> <br /> (1) painted on the window a la Lionel <br /> (2) mass hallucinations <br /> (3) very small, human shaped weather balloons <br /> (4) a rare form of St Elmo's fire <br /> (5) swamp gas <br /> <br />But definitely not people. <br /> <br />So see--it's a moot issue. <br /> <br />Happy traveling![banghead][banghead][banghead]
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