Amtrak Pays $2 Million to Passengers With Disabilities Who Faced Obstacles at Stations

The Justice Department said on Wednesday that Amtrak has paid more than $2 million to people with disabilities who were discriminated against at nearly 80 train stations.

The first of several actions mandated by a settlement between the railroad and the Justice Department that requires Amtrak to fix barriers for people with disabilities were paid.

Obstacles included narrow waiting areas, parking spaces without signs marking them as accessible, steep inclines for passenger platforms and track crossing, and toilets that didn't accommodate wheelchairs, according to a lawsuit that the Justice Department brought against Amtrak.

Over the next nine years, Amtrak must redesign 90 stations across the country to make them accessible to all passengers and begin construction at 45 other stations. The Americans With Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 and prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.

An assistant attorney with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement that those efforts will bring both Amtrak and our nation one step closer to realizing the A.D.A.'s promise of equal opportunity for people with disabilities.

The railroad made significant progress in bringing facilities into higher levels of accessibility, according to a statement by an Amtrak spokesman. He said it had a budget of more than $150 million for accessibility improvements at 43 stations.

The company has 500 stations in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

The National Disability Rights Network, an advocacy group that investigated the railroad in relation to civil rights law, found that the railroad had "lagged far behind" other transportation providers in providing accessible train stations. The report concluded that passengers had been forced to suffer embarrassment and other indignities throughout the process of train travel.

The executive director of the group said in a statement on Wednesday that in accessible train stations are more than just an annoyance. The linchpin of community integration is transportation.