VIA Rail Canada is that country’s national rail service. It operates intercity, regional and transcontinental trains linking 450 communities across its 12,500 km network, transporting nearly four million passengers annually. VIA Rail recently announced that the Canadian train now includes a newly renovated Park car featuring an accessible cabin designed for people with disabilities. The new accessible cabin for two was designed following extensive research of accessibility requirements within the transportation industry.
In total, four Park cars used on the Canadian will be reconfigured to include a fully accessible cabin. “VIA Rail is committed to pursuing the improvement of accessibility on all its services. We are proud to now offer a cabin on board the Canadian between Toronto and Vancouver with a level of comfort designed specifically for our mobility reduced passengers,” said Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, President and Chief Executive Officer of VIA Rail Canada, “from Halifax to Vancouver, VIA Rail is able to accommodate persons with disabilities on board all its trains.”
The newly reconfigured Park cars are amongst many other initiatives undertaken by VIA Rail to improve the accessibility of its services. Over the past few years, VIA Rail has invested in building new accessible stations and renovating stations in order to improve the accessibility of its facilities.
The corporation has also improved accessibility to its rolling stock on other routes. Renaissance cars, used on the Ocean (Montreal–Halifax), were reconfigured to include an Economy class car wheelchair tie-down, an accessible bathroom and a fully accessible sleeper cabin on each departure. Furthermore, each Renaissance Economy class car was modified to offer seating for passengers travelling with a service animal, and fold-up armrests were installed on 2 two-person seats as well as 4 individual alley seats.
Two rail diesel cars (RDC) were recently modified for accessibility, one of which is currently in use on the Sudbury-White River route. VIA Rail also has an accessible Economy class car on each of its LRC train consists. As well, VIA Rail’s web site at viarail.ca was optimized in 2012, enabling people with disabilities to better access information on the site.
Source: Access Tourism NZ
