U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced that individuals with disabilities will have greater access to intercity, commuter and high-speed train travel as a result of a new rule requiring new station platform construction or significant renovation to enable those with disabilities to get on and off any car on a train.

“This will help give passengers with disabilities better access to rail travel across the country,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “By putting this protection in place, passengers with disabilities will be able to get on and off any accessible car that is available to passengers at a new or altered station platform.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is amending its Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations to require intercity, commuter and high-speed passenger railroads to ensure, at new and significantly renovated station platforms, that passengers with disabilities can get on and off any accessible car of the train.   Passenger railroads must provide level-entry boarding at new or altered stations in which no track passing through the station and adjacent to platforms is shared with existing freight rail operations.   For new or altered stations in which track shared with existing freight rail operations precludes compliance, passenger railroads will be able to choose among a variety of means to meet a performance standard to ensure that passengers with disabilities can access each accessible train car that other passengers can board at the station. These options include providing car-borne lifts, station-based lifts, or mini-high platforms.   The Department will review a railroad’s proposed method to ensure that it provides reliable and safe services to individuals with disabilities in an integrated manner.

This new rule also requires that transit providers carry a wheelchair and occupant if the lift and vehicle can physically accommodate them, unless doing so is inconsistent with legitimate safety requirements.

On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. That landmark civil rights legislation reaffirmed the idea that all our citizens, regardless of disability, are entitled to the same privileges, pursuits, and opportunities as everyone else. 

Since its enactment, the ADA has opened many doors and sought to level the playing field for employment of Americans with disabilities. Still, however, the unemployment rate for persons with disabilities remains high.

Today, following on other steps already taken, the Obama Administration announced new efforts that will continue to support increased employment opportunities for persons with disabilities and will also help make the government more open and accessible to all citizens. Specifically, the administration is working to release a draft comprehensive strategic plan to improve compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Section 508 requires that federal agencies’ electronic and information technology be accessible to people with disabilities, both inside and outside the government.   Even 12 years after this law was enacted, many technological barriers still exist, limiting the ability of persons with disabilities when they try to interact with the federal government, whether as an employee or as a citizen seeking information or services.

Making electronic and information technology, such as websites, 508 compliant will ensure that applicants have equal access to apply for job opportunities. 508 compliance also will promote increased retention, as federal employees will be able to successfully utilize the technology – whether it be computers, telephones, fax machines, websites and many other technological tools – necessary to perform their duties. Moreover, it will make the government more open and accessible as people with disabilities will be able to better access all the information the federal government has placed online.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act the first member of the House of Representatives with quadriplegia presided over the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., was the first person using a wheelchair to take the helm of the House. The opportunity was possible because of recent alterations to the House Speaker’s platform making it wheelchair accessible through a series of lifts.

“I have long said that I may be the first quadriplegic to serve in Congress, but I won’t be the last,” Langevin, a five-term congressman, said in a statement. “This is an extremely proud moment for me and helps renew my spirit as we continue to remove barriers and strengthen the ADA for millions of Americans with disabilities in the decades to come.”