Maybe you don’t think too much about the few steps you have to take to get from the platform and onto the train. But for the 50,000 people in the country who use wheelchairs, these steps could cost them their planned journey. Cato Lie often opts out of the train journey to avoid unpleasant experiences. – When I take a train, I depend on assistance from the conductor to get in and out of the train. It doesn’t feel good. Earlier this year, the government ordered new long-distance trains and promised that these would be better equipped for wheelchair users. Lie was happy about that, but the new solutions proved to disappoint the wheeling passengers – once again. – It is far from my wish to manage on my own. Depending on help The trains in Norway are loud, at least those that run long distances. They have to withstand all kinds of weather and wind over mountains and through forests. Therefore, they are placed 120 centimeters above the ground. It is 44 centimeters above the highest platforms. Wheelchair users are therefore dependent on a lift or a ramp, in which case the conductor must help. – But then we find that the lift is stuck or that the conductor doesn’t know how it works, and then they ask us to wait for the next train instead. HELP: A conductor has put down a ramp that Cato can roll onto to enter the train that goes from Oslo to Trondheim. Photo: Eline Molvær Løndal / news The ramp is too steep for Cato to roll in on his own. He needs help from the conductor who pushes him up and into the train. Photo: Eline Molvær Løndal / news Well placed inside the train, Cato is pleased to have received help from a pleasant conductor: – Not everyone is equally willing to help. Photo: Eline Molvær Løndal / news In addition, passengers in wheelchairs do not have the opportunity to move freely between the carriages. They also do not have access to the bistro, and the sleeping compartments are too small. – The consequences are that people opt out of the environmentally friendly train, says deputy head of the Norwegian Handikapforbund (NHF), Magnhild Sørbotten. New trains on the way Earlier this year, Norske tog and the train manufacturer Stadler presented new solutions for more inclusive trains, commissioned by the government. But when Sørbotten saw the proposal, she was disappointed. – We were looking forward to the arrival of new trains, but it didn’t seem to get much better, she says. The NHF and the Joint Organization of the Disabled (FFO) therefore put pressure on the government, and asked for even more changes. It produced results. Magnhild Sørbotten is deputy chairperson of the Norwegian Association for the Disabled. Photo: Norges Handikapforbund The government accepted the objections. Stadler and Norske tog developed even better solutions for 17 new trains. Wheelchair users will have access to a larger part of the train than before, and they will be able to move freely between the family carriage and the bistro. There will be more wheelchair lifts, larger sleeping compartments and one additional disabled toilet. The changes cost the state NOK 100 million more than initially planned, according to Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård. The new trains will run between Oslo and Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim, and between Trondheim and Bodø. But that is still not good enough, both NHF and FFO believe. Doesn’t solve the problems It takes a long time before the new trains are in place. The first trains are expected on the Bergen line in the summer of 2027 at the earliest – and even these do not meet all the requirements. – It is a good step on the way, but there is still no step-free access, says Sørbotten. The new trains are also 120 centimeters long, which means that wheelchair users will still need help to get on the train. – The changes that are happening now are very good, but what good are good solutions inside the train, if I can’t get on the train once? asks Cato Lie. ADVISER: Cato Lie is an advisor in the Norwegian Public Works Department on universal design for, among other things, transport: – It will be better than it was, but it could have been even better. In addition, it is going too slowly, he says of the government’s work with new trains. Photo: Eline Molvær Løndal / news It will take a long time The Minister for Transport says that the government wants to fulfill wheelchair users’ requirements, but that purchasing long-distance trains is complicated. – The solutions we have come up with so far are ground-breaking work that I think many will be pleasantly surprised by, says Nygård. – Why haven’t you made this a priority earlier? – We have been working for several years to get new trains. This spring, the Norwegian Railway Directorate and Norske tog presented the first solutions, and then we took the objections of the user organisations, NHF and FFO, seriously, he says. – We have been through a process where we started off badly, but where we seem to have landed well. COMPLICATED: Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård wants universal design on the trains: – But we have understood that it is complicated, and that we must therefore be as solution-oriented as we can. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Nevertheless, he says that they are not quite there yet. Among other things, the government will look at the possibility of introducing step-free access. This means equal height on platform and train, so that passengers in wheelchairs can roll in without help. – But that does not apply to the 17 trains that have now been ordered. In that case, it will be for the next long-distance trains we buy in, says the minister. So Cato Lie and other wheeling passengers will have to wait a long time for the next problem-free departure. – Then I’d rather choose the car. Is life ruined when you end up in a wheelchair? Can you have sex, and how do you do it?
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– It doesn’t feel good – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
