Does CityRail Wheelie Care??

7 Jan 2010: St Mary’s train station in Sydney’s west states that it has wheelchair access by the way of elevators, but more often than not, these elevators are out of order. The only alternative to get to the other side of the station, is via some very steep stairs. This makes it hard enough for elderly people or mothers with prams, but impossible for people with disabilities.

NOVA Employment has been affected by these dodgy elevators first hand, as the St Mary’s office is our head office, and where large meetings and training days are held. One of our Admin staff, who is a wheelchair user, came to see a guest speaker at our head office in St Mary’s last year, and although the station assured us the day before that the elevator was working, got stuck at the train station on the other side due to the failed lift. I called the train station today to check if the elevator is working and I am happy to say that it is for once.

There was an article in the St Mary’s-Mt Druitt Starr in December, with complaints from regular commuters saying that the lift is always broken down, and has been so on and off for a whole month. When they have asked the station staff about the issue, no one seems to know or care what’s going on, or when it’s going to be fixed. Despite these claims about the unhelpful rail staff, a spokesman for RailCorp was quoted saying “Customers can also speak to one our friendly station staff or contact 131500 to make CityRail aware of an issue”.

I urge anyone who sees an ‘out of order’ lift at a Sydney train station, to contact CityRail immediately, so that hopefully something will be done to stop the constant malfunction of these essential elevators.

CityRail maintains that the St Mary’s break-downs have been caused by an electrical fault, but there may be reason to believe that it’s the result of vandalism. This brings up another question of whether elevators should be accessible to those who don’t necessarily need them. Maybe there should be a password system, where a code must be entered into a keypad to use an elevator, and those who know they are going to need to use an elevator can call a station to alert they are coming or see a station staff member to get the code. I think this is something that CityRail should look into creating.

To see the original article, visit the St Mary’s – Mt Druitt Starr here - http://www.stmarysstar.com.au/news/local/news/general/travellers-taking-a-hike/1705140.aspx

CityRail needs to pick up their game