If the station elevator breaks down – something that happens far more often than desired – the mobility of people in wheelchairs is completely impeded. Regular users of public transport, such as Montse Roig, know this well, for more than one day she had to call a family member to pick her up at Rodalies station.
Even more outrageous was what happened on Wednesday morning, when she ended up being identified by a security officer at Mataró station after crossing the rubber crossing at the end of the platform, an alternative shortcut in front of the absence of an elevator which was not the first time I used it.
“It’s inhumane that people with reduced mobility can’t cross when the lift isn’t working”, laments Roig, who gave his details to the security staff subcontracted by Renfe, unlike another man in a wheelchair who had done the same and refused to hand over the ID. The problem for the guard was that they had done it without authorization and had put her life in danger. The situation ended up requiring the presence of the Mossos d’Esquadra, even though when they arrived the travelers had already boarded the R1 train in the direction of Maçanet.
It is a passage between tracks that is expressly marked prohibiting use by travelers, enabled exclusively for authorized personnel. However, it is used by people in wheelchairs or with baby carriages when the elevator breaks down, always after receiving the approval of the security staff, who usually already know the regular passengers. The victim herself admits that she has done it other times after talking to the security officer, 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 file a case against him for having crossed before he was given permission.
The truth is that the regulation of the railway infrastructure administrator (Adif) is clear in this regard, despite the repeated protests over time by various affected groups. The official alternative for people in wheelchairs when the lift is not working is to go to the next station by lift, use it to change platforms and wait for the next one train that allows you to go back to the destination station. A real round and investment of time that in stations that do not yet have elevators, such as that of Molins de Rei, is solved precisely with a security officer at the step to prevent those who can take the stairs from passing on the tracks and give the ‘exceptional authorization only to those who really need it.
The fact that the regulations are so strict in this regard is due to the unfortunate events that happened in these steps between tracks previously. 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 been made of rubber. However, there have also been cases such as that of a young man who was run over in one of these crossings, in Mollet, in 2019, when he crossed it with inline skates.
