Amtrak，在settlementwith the U.S. Dept. of Justice over alleged violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), has agreed to design and construct changes in platforms, parking lots and other infrastructure at scores of its stations to comply with the law’s requirements.
该协议，司法部宣布Dec. 2, states that over the next decade, Amtrak will carry out design work for at least 135 stations to bring them into compliance with the ADA. The railroad has about 500 stations.
在这135个电台中，Amtrak致力于至少90台完成建设，并在10年内在其他45个地点进行建设。新利18备用网址
在获得国家环境和历史保护官员，公用事业和其他各方所需的批准之后，Amtrak将有36个月的时间来完成获得最终批准的项目要素的建设。
Fourteen “mega-stations”—including such major hubs as New York Penn Station and Los Angeles Union Station—remain subject to ADA requirements but are exempt from the settlement's 10-year timeline for repairs and improvements “due to their size and complexity,” the document states.
According to DOJ, the ADA, enacted in 1990, gave Amtrak until 2010 to get its facilities into compliance with the statute. But Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general in charge of DOJ’s civil rights division, said in a statement that the railroad “failed or refused to comply” with the 2010 deadline “and Amtrak’s noncompliance with the [ADA] injured individuals with disabilities.”
Dreiband added, “Passengers with disabilities have waited long enough.”
Amtrakalso agreed to establish a $2.25-million settlement fund to compensate individuals who were “harmed by Amtrak’s lack of accessible transportation services” related to 78 stations with “significant accessibility issues.”
Those stations range from Montpelier, Vt., to Wishram, Wash.
涉及的时间段是在2013年7月27日至和解的生效日期之间。
和解文件还说，Amtrak否认了这些指控，并致力于ADA合规。该协议指出，Amtrak签署和解“不应被视为录取或有罪或责任的证据”。
Amtrak发言人Marc Magliari通过电子邮件说，该和解“建立在Amtrak长期以来的ADA合规工作的许多方面，不仅仅是站点的建筑合规性，还基于员工的培训，对[联邦铁路管理]有效监督和Amtrak执行官和薪酬对于某些车站不合规的某些乘客而言。”
Magliari没有对新的ADA设计和建设计划的价格提供估计。但他说，在截至9月30日的财政年度，铁路在159个地点为与ADA相关的项目花费了创纪录的1.09亿美元。新利18备用网址
ADA项新利18备用网址目于2020年在W.Va. Montgomery和密西西比州的Picayune完成。最近的新闻发布会。
Eric Driband的姓氏的拼写被纠正，下午12/2/2020
