OTTAWA — Via Rail says it won’t widen doorways to allow for bigger wheelchairs on its new fast trains, despite complaints from the disabled. A written response by the Crown corporation to the Council of Canadians with Disabilities on Tuesday also says it won’t widen areas in its new passenger cars where wheelchairs are to be stationed, reports the National Post.
“It is true that the largest possible wheelchairs won’t be able to go through, but the average wheelchair will,” company spokesman Malcolm Andrews explained.
Those with wheelchairs wider than 71 centimetres will have to transfer to special onboard chairs.
But a lawyer for the group said the restriction will bar many disabled people, including those with trunk control problems, balance and stamina problems, those who require oxygen, who have chronic pain, are rotund or have frequent seizures
“A significant number of people won’t be able to use those (special) chairs,” David Baker said after reading the 15-page response, which was ordered on the group’s behalf by the Canadian Transportation Agency.
“Things are getting worse, in terms of accessibility.”
Doors on the cars now in use are at least 75 cm wide, Baker said. And tie-down areas on trains now running are larger than those on the new trains, where wheelchairs will be unable to turn around, he added.
Baker also argued the doors on the new trains, which are due to start running late next month, don’t meet the agency’s 81-cm requirement.
But Andrews said the 81-cm figure is merely a guideline and added the company is abiding by access provisions laid down in the industry’s code of practice – a “voluntary code” signed by Canadian carriers in 1997-98.
Some doorways on the new train cars, originally designed for use in the Chunnel between Britain and France, are slightly wider than 71 cm, Andrews said.
He said Via ordered Bombardier Inc. to provide an estimate of the cost and time required to widen the doors on the cars, which were built in Europe by the French company Alstom.
“We’d be looking at millions of additional dollars, and many, many months, maybe a full year,” he said of Bombardier’s response. “At this point in time there is still no intention to make those additional modifications.”
Andrews said the 139 cars, which were purchased in the fall of 2000, were a steal at $130 million.
“It’s an incredible deal,” he said, adding a new order of cars would have cost the company three to four times that amount.
But Baker said the figures are not clear. A November 2001 memo from Via increased the total cost to $165 million, he said.
Andrews said he knew nothing of the cost overrun.
Baker also argued the trains were dumped on the market partly because they didn’t meet European standards for accessibility.
Andrews denied that, saying Alstom is a top supplier of quality trains.