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B. Rüger, P. Tauschitz:
"Vehicle based BAS prototype design and evaluation";
Bericht für Europäische Kommission; Berichts-Nr. D 4.4, 2012; 21 S.

The deliverable 4.4 will describe the decision making process of the development and the outlook for the evaluation of the vehicle based boarding assistance system prototype created as part of the project PubTrans4All. It will include sections on the selecting of the features to be included in the system, the process used to design and build the prototype and the deployment planning and preparation.
The result of the previous work led to the decision that the most important step towards an accessible rail system at the moment is the development of a boarding assistance system (BAS) for existing UIC wagons. These cars are still in use in large number all over Europe. As described in deliverable 3.1, due to design limitations it is not possible to retrofit these types of vehicles in order to use existing BAS. So at the moment only platform based BAS can be used for wheel chair users. For all other types of vehicles some kind of BAS exists (lifts for high speed trains, ramps for low floor trains). The aim of further research in this project was to develop a BAS that can be used for installation in UIC wagons.
The technical and operational frames for the new BAS are explained in this deliverable. The different decision and evaluation criteria are evaluated from the passengers', the operators' and the manufacturers' perspective described in deliverable 2.1.
The results shown in deliverable 3.1 demonstrate that the layout of older UIC coaches and modern high speed trains that are designed for wheelchair users and other PRMs in general is similar. UIC coaches have small doors with a width of 800mm, while in modern trains the door with is increased to 900mm. The difference is that there are already lift solutions for a door width of 900mm but none for narrower doors. The UIC coach has doors located at the end of the coaches. Because of the folding or sliding steps and vicinity of the buffers as well as other constraints, there is no space under the steps for the installation of a BAS. Additionally, the space at the coach end is occupied by mechanisms of the head doors leading to the next coach, fire fighting equipment, some electrical components etc. Typical for these coaches is that the passageway is in the majority of cases at one side outside the longitudinal centre line of the vehicle because of the neighbouring toilet cabins adapted for people with handicaps and persons with reduced mobility. Finally, there are usually only two potential positions left which could be used for stowing the BAS.
The lifts usually consist of a solid steel frame with a swivel arm and a vertical lifting column. The upstroke is generated by a hydraulic cylinder or an electrical spindle drive. The divided platform is attached to the frame and usually manually folded and unfolded. The lifts are operated and supervised by a trained operator. The turning radius is adaptable to the individual requirements (180° or 270°) of the vehicle. Furthermore, it is possible to board and alight the lift platform from the side which is helpful on very width limited platforms. Swivel lifts can be used in very narrow doors due to the very slim bracket which minimizes the door width only marginally.

Public Transportation; Railway sector; Accessibility; Persons with reduced mobility (PRM); Boarding assistance systems; Prototype

http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_213307.pdf

Projektleitung Norbert Ostermann:
Öffentlicher Verkehr - Barrierefreiheit für alle