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1/13/2022
Amtrak has paid over $2 million to more than 1,500 people who experienced disability discrimination while traveling or attempting to travel by train, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday.
The payments were part of a settlement agreement reached on Dec. 2, 2020, to resolve the DOJ’s determination that Amtrak failed for over a decade to make existing train stations accessible to people with disabilities as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The payments follow a year-long process to identify victims of that discrimination, DOJ officials said in a press release.
The settlement agreement requires Amtrak to make its intercity rail system accessible, prioritizing stations with the most significant barriers to access. Over the next nine years, Amtrak will be required to complete designs to make at least 135 of its existing stations accessible, complete construction at 90 of those stations and begin construction at 45 more, DOJ officials said.
Amtrak will also train staff on ADA requirements and implement an improved process for accepting and handling ADA complaints. Amtrak recently established an Office of the Vice President of Stations, Properties and Accessibility to coordinate its compliance with the ADA.
Amtrak offered the following statement on the payment and settlement: "We are pleased to have reached an amicable resolution regarding passenger accessibility by working cooperatively and transparently with the Department of Justice and the Federal Railroad Administration. The December 2020 settlement included a $2.25 million compensation fund for passengers who may have been harmed by inaccessibility at certain stations, which is now being disbursed by the fund administrator."
Since 2011, Amtrak has invested more than $489 million in 204 stations in various stages of work throughout the country, the statement added. The railroad also plans to spend more than $143 million this year on accessibility planning and construction to more than 43 additional stations.