Réseau Ferré de France has increased its investment from 15 to 25% for funding accessibility works
Invested with the responsibility of being a public service, Réseau Ferré de France, working alongside several public and private partners, is committed to making the railway network accessible to all. In order to achieve this we have launched a programme of works and analyses to ensure that no-one is forgotten about when it comes to transport.
accessibility
How to ensure network accessibility
Réseau Ferré de France, as owner and manager of the national railway infrastructures, aims to adopt a position of solidarity towards disabled users in order to allow them as normal a life in the community as possible. In specific terms, this means giving them access to stations, platforms and carriages, ensuring they benefit from the same conditions in terms of mobility, comfort and safety.
Ambition, Sharing, Improving
The Regional Divisions at Réseau Ferré de France have performed an assessment of the facilities at each station for each type of disability. Based on these reports, accessibility master plans have been drawn up.
Work on improvements which did not require any large-scale studies or procedures was started in 2006, in particular facilities to improve guidance and safety on platforms and platform access:
Warning and safety lines along the edge of platforms (100 km per year),
Stand-up seats and "double rail” handrails in corridors, connecting passageways and on stairways.
Preparing for mobilities of tomorrow
The largest investment is going towards two types of work which are needed to improve access to stations, platforms and carriages:
Building flyovers and underpasses fitted with access ramps or lifts,
Raising platforms.
The programme to raise the floor level of all or part of platforms in order to make it easier to access the carriages is still in the consultation stage with SNCF (French National Railway). The type of train traffic through the station will also affect the works:
All stations that receive national trains, major line trains and high speed trains must be upgraded within the 10-year deadline allowed by the law of 2005 on equal rights and opportunities and on the involvement and citizens’ rights of disabled persons.
Regional Express Train (TER) and Ile-de-France stations shall be upgraded in accordance with their own accessibility master plans, which Réseau Ferré de France will implement in collaboration with the regional transport authorities.
Ivan Rascle, Accessibility correspondent for the Provence-Alps-Côte d’Azur region
“We are accustomed to improving accessibility at three to four stations per year on average in the region; in 2007, Réseau Ferré de France decided to make this a priority area, in particular upgrading all of the stations along the Aix-Marseille line. Work at the main Aix-en-Provence station will, for example, be completed by the end of 2008: the platforms will be raised, and we are building a flyover with lifts and tactile paving surfaces.”
“We are accustomed to improving accessibility at three to four stations per year on average in the region; in 2007, Réseau Ferré de France decided to make this a priority area, in particular upgrading all of the stations along the Aix-Marseille line. Work at the main Aix-en-Provence station will, for example, be completed by the end of 2008: the platforms will be raised, and we are building a flyover with lifts and tactile paving surfaces.”
Project-programme “Access to trains”
Access to trains is the subject of one of Réseau Ferré de France’s project-programmes, which will require the participation of the SNCF. It involves research and obtaining investment for:
Access to trains is the subject of one of Réseau Ferré de France’s project-programmes, which will require the participation of the SNCF. It involves research and obtaining investment for:
improving safety when crossing over lines at stations,
facilitating disabled access from the roads to the trains,
facilitating disabled access from the roads to the trains,
