Carriage Way Access

Project Manager:

Dr Dhamodharan Raman

Sponsor Organisations:

• CRC for Rail innovation
• ARA Disability Policy Group
• RailCorp
• QR
• DoT (Victoria)
• Connex
• TransAdelaide

Partner Research Organisations:

• CQU

Staff Members:

None

Objectives

The aim of the current research project is to recognise practicable "way-finding" solutions for access to platforms and carriages, and where appropriate to identify and suggest new technologies to address these issues in passenger operators around Australia. The objectives that have been identified to achieve this research aims are:

• Review, recognise and characterise the difficulties passengers, in particular passengers with a wide variety of disabilities, have of negotiating station entrances, concourses, platform, stairs, tunnel gates, etc and carriages.
• Suggest cost-effective and reasonably practicable solutions through review of solutions including hand held communication devices that exist across the world in patents, other systems and in parallel industries (e.g. airport transit systems).
• If there are insufficient existing solutions, identify and suggest alternatives exists to create new technologies that could solve access issues for stations and carriages.

Background

The train station and its platform are the first point of contact the passengers have with the railway and should be regarded as the "shop window" for the services provided. Therefore, the platforms should be well designed, easily accessible, convenient and safer for the passengers. However, passengers confront practical difficulties in accessing these platforms and carriages primarily due to the lack of comprehensive technical solutions which could facilitate easy navigation. This is particularly exacerbated for people with reduced mobility including disabled people and older passengers. To be more specific, visually impaired people perceive the simple essential tasks in accessing carriages as very problematic, which may not seem difficult to other passengers. Whereas people with aural disabilities find difficulties in receiving updated information/ announcements that could be essential to reach the correct platform and carriages in a timely fashion. If these practical barriers are not removed a vast majority of disabled people will continue to be disadvantaged with reduced participation in the community.