Campaign for disabled rail access

February 2003

A campaign by local students to improve access to Wicklow train station for mobility impaired users has been stepped up.

Students from East Glendalough Schools Young Social Innovators group met station master, Walter Morrissey, last week to outline their ‘Next Train 2020’ campaign.

The transition year students are seeking to make the southbound platform of Wicklow station accessible to all.

Currently the only access is via the footbridge and anyone using a wheelchair must be carried over the bridge.

They believe this is both humiliating and dangerous.

The students propose a ‘ level crossing’ between both platforms.

Designers Tara Jackson and Erica Smith, both technical drawing students, presented their ideas to the station master. They suggest there would be gates on either side of the crossing which could only be opened by the station master.

The group’s spokesperson, Charlotte Bishop, explains that their proposal came out of the Young Social Innovators competition which currently being piloted in Leinster. The aim of the competition is for students to be making a positive change in their community.

They came up with a number of ideas but when a student who uses a wheelchair joined the school it made them more aware of the issue they face and how difficult it is for them to use services, she adds.

Aisling Moran acknowledges that the northbound platform is accessible but says it is unsafe for people to be carried over the foot bridge to the other platform.