CHICAGO — Amtrak has taken a significant step to address the boarding experience for passengers with disabilities.
To better aid the increasing number of passengers requesting assistance at stations, Brian Dassell, the company’s senior director of customer service, tells Trains, “We created a process for customers to put their name on a virtual list to let us know that they need assistance getting to their train.”
The pilot program, introduced initially at Chicago Union Station and Los Angeles Union Station, invites customers to scan a QR code prominently displayed at entrances and throughout the facilities. Assistance requests are also entered for arriving passengers from train manifests. “For some trains,” Dassell says, “you might have 30 people requesting support and we want to efficiently prioritize their transfers.”
Accessing the QR code prompts passengers to disclose on which train they will be departing, and their location at the station. If a customer arrives at a street entrance, a Red Cap will be dispatched to that location; otherwise, Chicago passengers are instructed to go to the newly refurbished Assisted Boarding Lounge. Those requesting assistance during the booking process are contacted the day before departure and told which entrance to use.
Chicago’s Assisted Boarding Lounge is combined with a Business Class waiting area and is between the north and south concourses. The space was formerly occupied by the Metropolitan Lounge.
Dassell also notes that Chicago’s motorized people movers have been replaced by a new fleet that is safer and quieter. A recent visit to Union Station during Amtrak’s rush hour — between 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., when about eight long-distance and state-supported regional arrivals and departures can converge if all are on-time — revealed the new carts still had to rely on horn honking to navigate the crowded, narrow boarding concourse. For passengers needing assistance, however, the new vehicles and dispatching protocol appear to be welcome additions.
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