Amtrak reaches agreement for accessibility at Paoli

Settlement reached to improve Amtrak station accessibility

The Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania and the National Passenger Railroad Corporation announced an agreement March 27 to improve disability accessibility at an Amtrak station in the western suburbs of Philadelphia.
“We are thrilled to reach this agreement with Amtrak to expedite its plans to achieve full access for people who use wheelchairs or have other mobility disabilities at Paoli Station,” said Rocco Iacullo, an attorney with the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, in a news release....

The agreement creates a two-year timetable for the NPRC, which manages the nation’s approximately 400 Amtrak stations, to install level platforms, as well as new accessible parking, bathrooms and paths of travel, at the station....

The news comes on the heels of a major report from the National Disability Rights Network, released in October 2013, that examined accessibility at 94 stations in 25 states. The report found that 95 percent of the surveyed stations contained one or more major architectural barrier for people with disabilities.

Click to expand...

I wonder how this agreement fits in with the timing of the plans for the Paoli Transportation Center project? Level platforms means high level platforms which requires a significant rebuild of the station configuration. Which is a project that is being led by SEPTA and PennDOT. I went to the SEPTA website and found their recently released proposed FY2015 capital budget (yes, exciting reading!), which has the Paoli Transportation Center programmed for funding in the FY2020 to FY2026 outyears. Which does not match the 2 year timeframe stated in the press release. Perhaps SEPTA and Amtrak intend to get federal and PennDOT funding, but SEPTA can't put it into the official FY2015 budget document until agreements are signed off on.

I grew up nearby on the main line, so I am quite familiar with the Paoli train station having taken trains from there. Which is why I was curious about the details of how they can make the platform on the north side of the tracks which is adjacent to a steep slope ADA compliant,

The SEPTA budget does have Exton funded for phase 1 construction from 2015-2017 to construct high level platforms and a new station building. So Exton will be getting high level platforms in the next 2-3 years. Phase 2 is a parking garage in the 2020-2026 timeframe. Coatesville, Parkesburg, and Downingtown stations are referenced as PennDOT projects under some notes on long-term planning efforts for the NEC.

The entire Paoli station rebuild has been a fasinating scenario. From what was originally going to be a new station on the site of the old yard, to the current, approved plan of a new station at the current location, and a new overpass connecting to Darby Road and the removal of the Valley Road bridge. As my "home" station, a new one (with a lot more additional parking) can't come soon enough.

Personally I've always been surprised at the lack of high level platforms within the entire SEPTA/Amtrak (NEC) system. The ramp for one door to be accessible at a high level to make the station ADA compliant isn't quite good enough, as it looks like ramps are either too steep or too long. I would assume that they were built to proper guidelines, but if I was in a situation where I would have to use it instead of stairs, I would prefer a flat platform instead of a ramp.

afigg said:

I wonder how this agreement fits in with the timing of the plans for the Paoli Transportation Center project?

Click to expand...

The funding plan for that is waaaay too far in the future. Essentially it's unfunded and might never happen.

I went to the SEPTA website and found their recently released proposed FY2015 capital budget (yes, exciting reading!), which has the Paoli Transportation Center programmed for funding in the FY2020 to FY2026 outyears. Which does not match the 2 year timeframe stated in the press release.

Click to expand...

In short, Amtrak has to make the station accessible well before 2020. 2020 is "never".

ronkstevens said:

Personally I've always been surprised at the lack of high level platforms within the entire SEPTA/Amtrak (NEC) system. The ramp for one door to be accessible at a high level to make the station ADA compliant isn't quite good enough, as it looks like ramps are either too steep or too long. I would assume that they were built to proper guidelines, but if I was in a situation where I would have to use it instead of stairs, I would prefer a flat platform instead of a ramp.

Click to expand...

The long terms plans for all the SEPTA stations on the NEC and on the Paoli/Thorndale line (aka Eastern Keystone) are to upgrade them to high level platforms (HLP). The HLPs for all stops on the NEC - whether commuter or Amtrak - show up in the NEC master plan documents. Most of the stations that are getting upgraded in the "nearer" term on the Eastern Keystone are the Amtrak stops, I expect mainly because of the 2015 ADA compatibility deadline for Amtrak imposed by Congress (a deadline that will not be met for many Amtrak stations). [i put quotation marks around "nearer" because in this context that could mean 10 years.]

I would expect that the plans are to also eventually upgrade the SEPTA stations on the other Regional lines to HLPs, but I have not studied the SEPTA documents that deeply. The reason the stations have not been upgraded to HLPs is that SEPTA has been seriously underfunded for capital spending for many years. Has been even worse in the past 3-4 years with the capital budget falling to $308 million which was not enough to keep the entire system running for much longer. Thanks to the PA transportation bill passed last November with a gas tax increase, SEPTA's proposed capital budget for FY15 is $572 million. But that still leaves SEPTA well behind other similiarly sized transit agencies such as WMATA which has a $1.13 billion capital budget for FY15 and MBTA with a $1.2 billion capital budget.

With a huge backlog of bridge replacement and repair projects, power substations and catenary to replace, aging rolling stock, track maintenance, SEPTA does not have the funds to modernize and upgrade all their Regional rail stations anytime soon. So it is going to be a couple of station upgrade projects at a time. The good news for Amtrak and the NEC is that with the additional transportation funds that PennDOT and SEPTA will be able to contribute more to state of good repair and upgrade projects on the PA section of the NEC and eastern Keystone than they have been in recent years.

NJ will probably be the first (other than New York which is already all HLP on the NEC) to get all stations on the NEC converted to HLP when they complete reconstruction of Jersey Avenue in three or so years. It will take quite a while for Pennsylvania to get there.