If you travel by train, you cannot avoid preparing for potentially unpleasant scenarios when planning your trip. Delays, train cancellations, reservation problems – anything can happen. Anyone traveling on the train with restricted mobility is also confronted with completely different inconveniences. The case of Stefan Hanus from Horgau near Augsburg shows that trains for people with disabilities are still not smoothly possible these days.
A city trip recently turned into an odyssey for the 30-year-old. For the last two years, Hanus has been largely dependent on a wheelchair. “But I rarely allow myself to be slowed down and I like to travel,” he says. For a city trip to Amsterdam at the end of July, he therefore opted for the Nightjet of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), where a wheelchair-accessible couchette can be booked.
The train travels from Innsbruck via Augsburg – so Hanus could actually have got on there. But: He is dependent on the service staff at the train station, who use a lift to lift him from the platform to the train. “Assistance is only offered until 11 p.m., and my train would have left at 11:24 p.m.” So he had to travel to Munich two hours in advance to get on the train on time. “As a person with a disability, you are already punished before the journey actually starts,” says Hanus. The next problem was waiting in Munich: Despite a reservation, there was no wheelchair-accessible compartment on the train. After all, the ÖBB staff tried to find another solution for him. A seating compartment could be converted into a reclining compartment spontaneously. Hanus only got there because he could walk a few steps and his electric wheelchair was safely stored next door. “It only got really bad on the way back.”
The train, again an ÖBB Nightjet, pulled into Amsterdam Central Station, and again there was no handicapped-accessible compartment. Despite reservation. The Swabian was not informed about this in advance. “I had to hear from the conductor that I should rather travel by plane with a wheelchair.” He learned that this time there was no way to convert a couchette compartment for him – the train was fully booked. “They just left me standing on the platform, the train left without me.”
The money for the ticket was refunded to Hanus, but the anger about the accessibility when traveling by train, with which the ÖBB boast on its website, remains. “After I complained by email, I received a written apology and offered a chocolate box as a ‘little compensation’.” Compared to Hanus, the ÖBB justified the failure of the wheelchair-accessible compartment on the outward and return journey with technical difficulties.
At the request of the SZ, the ÖBB said that they regretted the incident and could not find a short-term solution for the wheelchair user due to the booking situation. As Hanus communicated, it was a matter of “short-term removal of the wagon due to a technical defect on both routes”. And Hanus is not only annoyed with the ÖBB, but also with the Augsburg train station, which is “a disaster”. The station is currently being rebuilt and should be ready in 2023. “There is a freight elevator, but it can only be operated by railway staff, which is why you have to register,” says Hanus. “And otherwise there are only ramps that are far too steep to be climbed without assistance or an electric wheelchair.”
Manuel Rodriguez from the Pro Bahn passenger association confirms the difficulties for people with disabilities in Augsburg. “The renovation would be an opportunity to make the station barrier-free. But that doesn’t happen enough,” he says. The routing was not planned to be completely barrier-free, and elevators were designed too small. “They’re too small for bicycles, especially for wheelchair users.”
Stefan Hanus would like wheelchair users to finally be able to travel everywhere just as independently and spontaneously as non-disabled passengers. “We need a 24-hour service for getting on and off and continuous accessibility,” he says. He wants to give the Nightjet another chance – trips to Berlin and Vienna are already planned.