Train stations won’t be barrier-free until 2023

According to the Disability Equality Act (BehiG), SBB is obliged to make all stations barrier-free by the end of next year. This means that from 2024, even people with reduced mobility should be able to use SBB services as independently as possible. “Unfortunately, at too many train stations this is still not guaranteed,” says Jonas Gerber of the umbrella organization Inclusion Handicap to Blick. The law came into effect in 2004!

Conversions primarily involve raising platforms and building ramps and additional elevators. But these are not going according to plan. As a report released today shows, the lag in the conversion business is huge.

“We’ve done a lot for barrier-free public transport, but there’s still a lot to do. We will not reach the target by the end of 2023,” confirms Andrés Doménech Nothhelfer (54) to Blick, who has been responsible for the structural implementation of BehiG at SBB since 2015.

According to the statement from SBB, by the end of 2023, SBB is expected to convert 434 out of a total of 746 stations. “Three quarters of travelers will be able to use our offer unhindered,” says Doménech Nothhelfer.

Associations criticize progress

“If 20 years after the introduction of BehiG, only three-quarters of passengers can get on and off trains autonomously, then it turns out that today there is very little priority given to accessibility,” says Gerber of Inclusion Handicap umbrella organization. As the first years of the BehiG application deadline have been exceeded, a bottleneck has occurred in the implementation of the measures shortly before the deadline. The Swiss Center for the Blind also criticizes that accessibility has not been given enough priority in the last 20 years.

Because 300 stations will not be rebuilt until after 2023. And at around 30 stations, the investments are disproportionate, so adjustments will need to be made during the next regular renewal, according to SBB.

Alternative measures will be presented at these 300 stations from 2024. For example, staff can assist wheelchair or walking disabled passengers to get on and off the train using ramps or a mobile elevator.

In 2019, the SBB service was used more than 150,000 times. However, according to Gerber, this assistance does not correspond to accessibility in the sense of law. Actually these were just an option as a temporary solution until the end of 2023.

Always new details

One reason for the backlog is that the implementation of BehiG is more complex than initially assumed. Details are constantly being added. “We initially assumed that we would need to convert about 150 stations,” says Doménech Nothhelfer of SBB. However, more disclosures have been made in recent years. “We now know that there are 400 stations that need to be rebuilt.” By the end of 2028, SBB will have invested over 2.5 billion francs in stations.

However, not all public transport vehicles are in SBB’s hands. Cantons and municipalities are responsible for their own bus and tram services. Many train stations are also operated by regional providers.

The Federal Office of Transportation (FOT) reported that by 2024, all public transportation will be barrier-free for 82 percent of passengers. That’s even 3 percent less than the default a year ago. BehiG’s main goal is accessibility to all public transport in Switzerland. Therefore this cannot be achieved.