Sydneys new fleet of trains will come with evacuation ramps that do not take wheelchairs, leaving some passengers with a disability stranded in emergencies, reported The Daily Telegraph on 16 July.

The news has emerged two days after it was reported that a quadriplegic man was lifted from a trapped train by forklift because CityRail had no evacuation procedure for passengers in wheelchairs.

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma apologised to law lecturer and quadriplegic Mark McCauley, after he was told to wait two or three days when trapped in a train, and was then carried out by construction workers using a forklift.

Passengers on the new fleet will be able to use ramps on the first and last carriages of the train, but people in a wheelchair will need to wait in the middle of the train for help.

CityRail confirmed wheelchair passengers could not access the ramps and would have to wait for a stretcher to evacuate them.

ParaQuad spokeswoman Deborah Schofield said the policy posed a risk to people in wheelchairs, especially when inside a tunnel.

CityRail chief executive Vince Graham has announced an evacuation drill will be held on the Sydney Harbour Bridge to focus on getting wheelchair passengers off trains safely in an emergency.

Source: Disability News - Infoxchange Australia