This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
9/8/2021
Amtrak won't complete its six-year, $1.2 billion plan to bring its stations into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) without first developing the requisite planning to achieve its timeline, an Amtrak Office of Inspector General report has found.
The report credits Amtrak for developing clearer lines of authority, responsibility and accountability for its ADA program, as well as realigning the program based on recommendations from a separate 2014 OIG report.
According to the most recent report, these actions helped Amtrak bring 36 more stations into compliance from October 2017 through April 2021. In April 2021, Amtrak reported that there were 312 remaining stations where it had a sole or shared responsibility to bring them into compliance with the ADA.
According to the report, Amtrak’s ADA stations team is already stretched, and without a commensurate increase in staffing and contractors, the team will face challenges in bringing the remaining stations into compliance by the target date. Amtrak planning documents do not identify how it will use the current 46 contractors and eight full-time employees who make up the ADA stations team to achieve the increased output in work and expenditures.
In particular, Amtrak does not have enough staff to oversee contract employees it hired to augment ADA efforts. As such, Amtrak staff has not adequately ensured that invoices reflect the work contractors performed.
This led OIG auditors to question $81 million in costs associated with these contractors’ work from fiscal-year 2015 through fiscal year 2020. The report said that without enough staff to provide effective oversight on its contractors, such issues could be exacerbated as contract work increases, according to a news release.
The OIG made several recommendations that, once implemented, would better position Amtrak to meet its legislative mandate to make its stations accessible. More information is included in the full report,which can be downloaded on the OIG website.