Campaign for disabled rail access

October 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 School’s Young Social Innovators group met station master Walter Morrisey, 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. The campaigners believe that this is both humiliating and dangerous.

The students propose the construction of 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 that 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 is currently being piloted in Leinster.

The aim of the competition is for students to make a positive change in their community.