If the station lift breaks down – which happens many more times than desired – the mobility of people in wheelchairs is completely impeded. Regular users of public transport such as Montse Roig, who for more than a day has had to call a relative to come pick her up at the Rodalies station because she could not finish the route, know this well.
Even more outrageous was what happened on Wednesday morning, when she ended up being identified by a security agent at the Mataró station after crossing the rubber step at the end of the platform, an alternative shortcut due to the absence of an elevator that it was the first time i used it.
“It is inhuman that people with reduced mobility cannot cross when the elevator is not working,” laments Roig, who gave his information to security personnel subcontracted by Renfe, unlike another man in a wheelchair who had done the same and left. He refused to hand over the ID. The problem for the guard was that they had done it without authorization, endangering her life. The situation ended up requiring the presence of the Mossos d’Esquadra, although when the travelers arrived they had already boarded the R1 line train in the direction of Maçanet.
It is a passage between tracks that has expressly marked the prohibition of use for travelers, enabled exclusively for authorized personnel. Even so, it is used by people in wheelchairs or with baby carriages when the elevator breaks down, always after having received the go-ahead from security personnel, who in many cases already know regular travelers. The affected person herself acknowledges that she has done it on other occasions previously after speaking with the security agent, who even looked at how much time was left for the next train to pass. The situation was not so kind this week and the staff in this case decided to open a file on him for having crossed before permission was given.
The certain thing is that the regulation of the Administrator of Railway Infrastructures (Adif) is clear and meridian in this sense, in spite of the reiterated protests in the time of diverse groups of affected. The official alternative for people who use a wheelchair when the elevator does not work is none other than having to go to the next station with an elevator, use it to change platforms and wait for the next train that allows them to go back to the destination station. . A real detour that in stations that do not yet have elevators, such as Molins de Rei, is solved precisely with a security agent at the pass to prevent those who can go by the stairs from crossing and give exceptional authorization only to those they really need it.
The fact that the regulations are so strict in this sense is due to the tragic events that occurred previously in these crossroads. In a wooden one, in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, a woman in a wheelchair was run over in 2009. Since then, the vast majority have become made of rubber. Even so, there have also been cases such as that of a young man run over in one of these steps, in Mollet, in 2019, when crossing with inline skates.
