Managing Marginality in Railway Stations: Beyond the Welfare and Social Control Debate

Abstract

How to rid railway stations of the marginalized people who congregate in them? This is the problem faced by railway companies which are seeking to maximize the commercial drawing power of their spaces. The limitations of a strictly repressive policy are prompting railway companies to fund non‐profit community‐based organizations to carry out social policies aimed at the marginalized. Based on two studies in the railway stations of Lyon and Milan, the article analyses how this strategy was implemented

Source: Managing Marginality in Railway Stations: Beyond the Welfare and Social Control Debate

Passengers Name c2c as Britain’s Best Rail Service

c2c passengers are the most satisfied commuters in the country, according to the latest research from independent watchdog Transport Focus. The Transport Focus survey, which interviewed over 5,000 rail passengers across the country, revealed that c2c tops the league with 95% overall satisfaction rate amongst the passengers surveyed. Additionally, c2c tops the league for passenger…

Passengers Name c2c as Britain’s Best Rail Service

Deaths of visually impaired people sparks questions about safety at railway crossings in Japan

Barrier Free Japan

By Barrier Free Japan

January 9 2022

JAPAN – Recent incidents at railway crossings in Japan involving people with disabilities have led people to ask how such incidents can be avoided.

Such tragedies are becoming a common occurrence in Japan. For example, on January 28th 2021, a local group for visually impaired people submitted a request to Tobu Railway to strengthen measures to prevent falls after an accident in which a visually impaired man fell and died at a station in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo.

This accident occurred on January 28 2021, when a visually impaired man in his 60s fell on to a railroad track at Shimo-Akatsuka Station on the Tobu-Tojo Line in Itabashi Ward and was hit by a train and died.

Three months before the accident, groups representing the visually impaired in Itabashi Ward and Toshima Ward submitted a request to Tobu Railway to strengthen fall prevention measures…

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Accessibility and informational barriers to an age friendly railway

Being mobile and able to travel in later life is linked to a good quality of life. Against a backdrop of an increase in the number of older people in the UK and an increase in the amount of travel per person for this age group, the number of older people using the railway is in decline. The purpose of this paper was to report on an investigation on issues around accessibility and information provision for older rail passengers. Download in full here

Source: Centre for Policy on Ageing – Ageinfo211029208

JR West Develops Automatic Ramp for Wheelchair Passengers

The system automatically extends a stainless ramp when a train arrives at a station platform.
This is the first device in Japan that simultaneously eliminates any vertical or horizontal gap between the platform and the train door

Barrier Free Japan

From Jiji Press

November 17 2021

OSAKA – West Japan Railway Co said Wednesday that it has developed an automatic ramp system designed to help wheelchair users get on and off trains. The system automatically extends a stainless ramp when a train arrives at a station platform.

This is the first device in Japan that simultaneously eliminates any vertical or horizontal gap between the platform and the train door, according to the company, better known as JR West.

JR West plans to conduct demonstration tests until February next year, aiming to put it into practical use in a few years.

The ramp is about 3.6 meters wide and some 1.5 meters long. When a censor at a station detects that a train has stopped, the ramp installed at the end of the platform will automatically come out in about five seconds, causing no delay in the train schedule.

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