Lift

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Older model of a lift in Bad Homburg train station

Lifts are devices that serve as aids to boarding and alighting at train stations and enable wheelchair users and passengers with severe walking disabilities to use trains if there is no level access.

In Switzerland these devices are also referred to as "mobile lifts", in Austria also "lifters".

Traditionally, passengers reached the passenger compartment of the railway vehicles from the platform via steps. For the construction of platforms, different specifications have been developed for the platform height depending on the state, railway administration or purpose. The vehicle floor height is also different for the vehicles. Corresponding heights of the platform and vehicle floor were only used in areas such as S-Bahn networks where attention was paid to rapid passenger changes. In order to enable wheelchair users and people with severe walking disabilities to use the trains, lifts have been procured.

The devices consist of a platform on which the passenger is hydraulically brought from the platform level to the vehicle floor level when boarding in his wheelchair, as well as ramp plates for reaching and leaving the platform and safety devices such as brakes and railings.

Current models are operated manually by one person and can be moved in any position of the platform even when loaded. The platform is raised and lowered using hydraulics using a foot pump or a battery. The lift is pulled on the platform near the entry door of the car. The wheelchair user reaches the platform via a folded down ramp plate. The ramp is folded up again, the platform is brought up to the level of the vehicle floor in the entrance area, the lift is then shifted a little as necessary and the second ramp plate is folded down towards the car door.

The service staff, and thus the use of them, is available at certain stations after prior notification.

Alternatives

Alternatively, lifts on the vehicle side or folding ramps carried in the vehicle are used. Here too, the operation is carried out by railway staff and the planned stopping times are not always sufficient to carry out the action.

It would be more advantageous not only for the disabled, but also for travelers with luggage, parents with small children with and without strollers and other groups of people, to have the same level entry with gap bridging. "Autonomous travel" without special registration would then also be possible for wheelchair users.

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