This is in reference to your complaint concerning the level boarding platform planned for Roanoke, Virginia…
Complainant’s Allegations
You allege that the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) concerning high-level platforms at the proposed station at Roanoke is causing delays of up to 5 years with the station. You allege that this causes undue hardship to people with disabilities because there is no other practical way for individuals with a disability to travel via common carrier.
Law, Regulation and Policy
Title II of the ADA prohibits public entities, including Amtrak, from discriminating against disabled individuals. 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131, 12132. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits exclusion of a disabled individual, solely because of his disability, from any program or activity receiving federal funds. 29 U.S.C. § 794. The DOT enforces Title II of the ADA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and other civil rights statutes as they pertain to transportation, and DOT investigates complaints against recipients of DOT financial assistance. The Department’s recipients include Amtrak.
The regulation at 49 C.F.R. §37.42 provides a performance standard for service at platforms constructed or altered after February 1, 2012. The regulation states in relevant part:
(a) In addition to meeting the requirements of sections 37.9 and 37.41, an operator of a commuter, intercity, or high-speed rail system must ensure, at s
So is the arguement that requiring the level platforms prolonged a situation where no reasonable access to accesible transportation existed for a longer time.
Somehow, I don’t think the OCR is going to see the irony in the statement. It really is odd to me that motorcoaches get free passes on the level boarding question, or even don’t have enforcement actions and lawsuits against them for operating from a curb, but then again that isn’t a terminal, so no lengthy plan review.
Yes…This requirement means that building new stations will take longer and more money…Ronoake had to add 2 Million to there station budget for there extention of the Lynchburg Trains.
So, what that tells me is that Congress needs to redo the law so it doesn’t mandate access to all cars, instead of just a few, which is what it should have been in the first place. Once again, a lack of common sense, but what do you expect from politicians.
Yes because only 1 or 2 doors are open anyway in a 7 car train. The Conducter and his assintant have to control access as per Homeland security rules. This is not Congress doing this this is some midleval burearcrat flexing her loins at the FRA Civil Rights Division.
You do realize that the access to all cars is written into the original law, don’t you? Therefore it is Congress(the people that wrote the law in the first place) that would need to change it to only needing access to a certain amount of cars and not all of them, it’s called an amendment to the original legislation.