Platform 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 gap-closing solutions for access to platforms and carriages, and where appropriate to develop new technologies to address these issues in passenger operators around Australia. The objectives that have been identified to achieve this research aim are:

• Review, recognise and characterise the mobility difficulties posed by gaps and difference in levels and horizontal separations between platform and trains.
• Suggest cost-effective and reasonably practicable solutions through review of solutions that exists across the world in patents, other systems and in parallel industries (e.g. airport transit systems). The potential solutions may include modifications to one or all of the track, train and/ or platform.
• If there are insufficient existing solutions, identify and suggest alternatives that could create new technologies to solve access issues for stations and carriages.

Background

A railway platform is a segment of pathway, beside rail tracks in a train station, at which passengers board or alight from carriages. The train station and its platform are the first point of contact the passengers have with the railway. Therefore, the platforms should be well designed, comfortable, convenient and safer for the passengers. However, passengers confront practical difficulties in accessing these platforms primarily due to the lack of suitable technologies and/ or intrinsic design limits of the platforms and rollingstock. To be more specific, the passengers are faced with less than ideal access to carriages due to wide horizontal and vertical gaps between platforms and trains. This is particularly exacerbated for people with reduced mobility including disabled people and elder passengers. Consequently, this results in both poor customer service outcomes as well as making travel difficult for people with a disability.