Subject: Handicapped Access (7/10/1990)
[7/10/90] Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 - This legislation has passed the House, with an exception which is of great importance to private car owners. The Senate version does not contain this exception. The Conference Committee will soon meet to determine whether any exception will be made. Assuming that the Conference Committee adopts the House version, you should understand that all carriers of the public are prohibited from discrimination against persons having disabilities, whether they are private or public carriers. AAPRCO, and the Napa Valley Wine train carried the brunt of the expense in obtaining exceptions for antiquated equipment. Unfortunately, we were not joined by other groups, such as the NRHS, TRAIN, the Locomotive and Railway Historical Society, nor the Railroad Passenger Car Alliance in funding the expensive effort to advise Congress as to our particular problems.
In any event, we were able to obtain in the House an exception for historical and antiquated rail passenger cars, if compliance with the Act would significantly alter the historic or antiquated character of the cars, and providing that the cars are not less than 30 years old, the manufacturer is no longer in the business of manufacturing rail passenger cars, and which car embodies, or is being restored to embody, the distinctive characteristics of a type of rail passenger car used in the past, or to represent a time period which has passed. As you can see, this exception will include all cars built by ACF, Budd, and Pullman, because none of these manufacturers are still in the passenger car business; providing the other sub-sections of this Act are also met. Whether inter-city trains operated by private carriers, excursion trains, and ski trains are exempt remains to be seen. If they are not, then they must be made handicap accessible.
-
Paul L. DeVerter II
Comments