Ramps give disabled easy access to trains

Ramps give disabled easy access to trains

The Airport Rail Link's portable wheelchair ramps. (Photo courtesy of Airport Rail Link)
The Airport Rail Link's portable wheelchair ramps. (Photo courtesy of Airport Rail Link)

After having been in service for nearly nine years, the Airport Rail Link has finally begun using portable wheelchair ramps to help disabled people board and alight from its trains.

Wheelchair-bound rights activist Manit Intharapim who tried the ramps out yesterday applauded the move, saying it was good to see “equal access for all people being implemented on this transport system”.

The electric trains, which ply a 28-kilometre line from Phaya Thai Station in central Bangkok to Suvarnabhumi airport in Samut Prakan, are often crowded with tourists and Bangkokians seeking to beat the traffic with fast trips to the city centre and Samut Prakan.

But since commercial services began in 2010, disabled people have found it difficult to enjoy the same travel ease as other passengers.

This changed after SRT Electric Train Co, the operator of the Airport Rail Link, held a ceremony to at Makkasan Station to introduce the ramps.

“The company sees the importance of having people from all walks of life using the trains equally and safely,” its director-general Suthep Panpeng said.

This does not simply mean the company is only adding these new facilities to all eight stations, it also wants to make sure that people are going to be offered the best service.

Station staff and security officers have been trained in how to use the equipment so that they can serve disabled people correctly, Mr Suthep said.

Another group of people receiving help from the government to use the rail link system is low-income earners.

“Today [May 21] also marks the first day when they can travel by train using welfare cards,” Mr Suthep said.

Holders of the chip-imbedded cards have 500 baht a month, courtesy of the government, which can be used to travel on buses and trains.

Up to 4,000 of an estimated 90,000 daily commuters are expected to use the cards, Mr Suthep said.

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