Arrive Magazine - September/October, 2008

All Aboard
Our Great American Stations

Amtrak’s role as a travel provider continues to grow as a record number of passengers are choosing trains over other forms of transportation. Train travel is also solidifying its position as one of the most preferred modes of transportation for people with disabilities—a responsibility we embrace as a company and one we take very seriously.

During the 1990s, Amtrak upgraded its trains to make them fully accessible according to standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since then, we have turned our attention to stations.

I’m happy to report that a majority of the stations we serve currently offer full- or barrier-free access and most of our passengers travel through these locations. But that’s not good enough, so making sure every facility is upgraded to be fully accessible remains a primary focus.

To that end, an Amtrak interdepartmental team has been conducting condition and accessibility assessments of stations on all routes and developing programs to make sure all locations are or will be made accessible as soon as possible. Surveys and periodic meetings with national disability organizations have also helped us focus our station improvement efforts. Amtrak, however, owns less than 20 percent of the 527 stations we serve, making this a complicated endeavor.

Stations, parking lots and train platforms at any one location often have mixed ownership that could include the local government, freight railroads and other private entities. We want to make sure these owners are aware of

their responsibilities and financial requirements, which is why we’ve been working with Congress and state legislatures while reaching out to communities through a series of station improvement workshops in the form of town hall meetings. Two years ago, we also created a comprehensive station improvement website ( GreatAmericanStations.com) to help guide communities through this process.

As a result of these meetings, over a dozen ownership groups have started the process of station improvement ventures. As more workshops are held, we expect this number to grow significantly.

The result of this cooperation between Amtrak and local organizations will not only benefit passengers with disabilities but will also return refurbished stations to these communities, which often become the catalyst for spawning economic development for the entire region. In that way, everybody benefits.