View/hide extracted text (may have errors)
Commuter Rail: Balancing Freight Clearance with Level Boarding and ADA Accessibility Requirements For Presentation at 91st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board Session 699: New Technologies to Improve Commuter Rail Service Delivery Wednesday January 25, 2012, 8:00 am, Columbia Hall, Washington Hilton, Washington DC Original: July 26, 2011 | Revised: November 15, 2011 David O. Nelson Eloy Martinez, Stephen Bonina Jacobs Engineering Group LTK Engineering Stadler US Incorporated. 343 Congress Street 10 Milk Street 231 North Avenue Boston, Massachusetts Boston Massachusetts Westfield, New Jersey 5.975 words 9 figures and tables (2,,250 word equivalents) 8,225 word equivalents against a 7,500 word limit Abstract Federal regulators and passenger railways are both concerned about passengers with mobility impairments that limit their ability to use stairways. Toward that end, federal policy and railway practice strongly encourages developing services that allow for level boarding and alighting from commuter rail trains without using stairways. Beyond benefiting individuals that have trouble using stairs, level boarding can also lead to significant improvements in service delivery for the rest of the public by reducing unproductive station dwell times, improving safety and creating opportunities to improve crew efficiency. One principal obstacle to level boarding has been concerns presented by the freight railroads that operate over (and often own) trackage shared with the passenger trains. The freight operators wish to maintain a full horizontal clearance envelope allowing unrestricted operations. These concerns often limit the close door/platform interface necessary for level boarding. This paper summarizes current Federal Transit Administration (FTA) policy on level boarding, discusses the benefits of level boarding, reviews the tension between freight clearance concerns and level boarding and reviews the state of the practice in serving passengers with mobility impairments. Based on the industry review, it highlights three innovations that have been implemented or considered to expand the scope of level boarding among North American commuter railroads. Finally it provides recommendations for further research. Introduction Under the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations, new commuter rail stations should feature platforms running the full length of the passenger boarding area of the station that permit level boarding to all cars stopping at the station. From an equity perspective, level boarding for all cars of a train is important because if passengers with disabilities are unable to enter all cars from the platform, the passengers will have access only to segregated service, inconsistent with the nondiscrimination mandate of the ADA. Level boarding can also lead to significant improvements in service delivery for all customers by reducing unproductive station dwell times, improving safety, increasing line capacity and creating opportunities for efficiency by reducing crewing requirements. Concerns by the freight railroads that operate over (and often own) trackage shared with the local passenger services are the single largest obstacle to achieving level boarding on many systems. The freight operators wish to maintain a full horizontal clearance envelope allowing TRB 2012 Annual Meeting Paper revised from original submittal.
