Amtrak has paid more than $2 million to more than 1,500 people with disabilities it discriminated against at nearly 80 train stations across the country, from Tuscaloosa to Topeka, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
The payments are the first of several actions mandated by a settlement reached last year between the railroad and the Department of Justice, requiring Amtrak to remove persistent barriers to the rail system for people with disabilities.
Obstacles included narrow waiting areas, parking lots without signs marking them as accessible, steep ramps to passenger platforms and rail crossings, and toilets that were unsuitable for wheelchairs, according to a Justice Department lawsuit filed against Amtrak alleging “failures.” caused ongoing damage and violated federal civil rights law.
Under the terms of the settlement, Amtrak must redesign 90 stations across the country over the next nine years to make them accessible to all passengers and begin construction on 45 more stations. It must also train its staff to meet the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act, a landmark civil rights law passed in 1990 that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.
Those efforts will “bring both Amtrak and our nation one step closer to realizing the ADA’s promise of equal opportunity for people with disabilities,” Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement. a statement.
In a statement on Wednesday, Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman, said the railroad has “made significant progress in elevating many of its facilities.” He added that it had budgeted more than $143 million this year for accessibility improvements at 43 stations.
The company operates approximately 500 stations in 46 states and the District of Columbia, according to court documents.
The Justice Department opened its investigation into Amtrak after it received complaints about inaccessible train stations and received a critical report in 2013 from the National Disability Rights Network, an advocacy group that investigated the railroad in relation to civil rights law and found that the railroad was “running.” far behind other transport providers in providing accessible services to customers with disabilities.Passengers, the report concluded, had been forced to “embarrass, inconvenience and other humiliations.”
“Inaccessible train stations are more than just an inconvenience,” Curt Decker, the group’s executive director, said in a statement on Wednesday. “Transport is the hub of community integration.”