ADA Working Group

Conference Call

August 3, 2011

Meeting Minutes

The conference call began at 2:08PM

Attendees

Josh Coran, Talgo, Inc.

Bryce Dudgeon, Siemens Industry, Inc

Calvin Gibson, FRA Office of Civil Rights

Rosanne Goodwill, FRA Office of Civil Rights

Jeffrey Gordon, Volpe Center

Katharine Hunter-Zaworski, Oregon State U

Tak Ishigami, Kawasaki Rail Car

Fred Kaviani, Ricon Corp

Kevin Kesler, FRA Office of R&D

Linda Martin, FRA Office of Chief Counsel

John Pannone, EAO Switch

Allan Paul, NCDOT

Uwe Rutenberg, Oregon State U

Stanton Saucier, Ricon Corp

Melissa Shurland, FRA Office of R&D

Ken Takeda, Kawasaki Rail Car

David Warner, Amtrak

Andrew Wood, Amtrak

Next meeting: August 17, 2011, 1PM, GoTo Meeting Info to follow.

I. Action Items

1.  Stanton Saucier, Ricon volunteered to provide statistical data (from UK) about mobility aids size and weight (Done)

2.  Katherine Hunter-Zaworski and Uwe Rutenberg will put together a strawman document outlining accommodations for passengers with disability. (Due 8/17/2011-Postponed to discuss mobility aid lift design loads)

3.  Melissa Shurland will send an invitation to John Day at FTA to participate in the group. (Done)

4.  Rosanne Goodwill will forward contact information regarding appropriate representative from the disabled community to be included. (Done)

a.  Rosanne clarified that the Charter needs to identify the “disabled community as a stakeholder. She indicated that there is no need to include a specific person in the Working Group.

5.  Melissa Shurland will work with Steve Hewitt to get space on the AASHTO website allocated for the Working group to share data. (Done)

II. Discussion

Melissa Shurland opened the meeting with an introduction to the purpose of the meeting, and roll call. The meeting participants are listed above. The Group decided that the meetings should be held bi-weekly, keeping with the standard NGEC practices. Katherine Hunter-Zaworski reiterated that bi-weekly meetings are best, as her team develop the recommendations, to get input from the group.

The ADA Working Group Charter was reviewed next. The purpose of the Working Group was discussed; which is to review the current and future needs of rail passengers with disabilities, and making recommendations on how best to address those needs in the most cost-effective and reasonable manner. The end product of the working group will be a white paper to the Executive Board outlining recommendations for specifications and requirements that will provide accommodations for passengers with disabilities on the next generation of rail cars. The end product of the working group will not circumvent or usurp the ADA requirements in any way. The FRA Office of Civil Rights and Chief Counsel will guide the work of the Group to ensure that the specifications developed do not violate the ADA rule. The Office of Civil Rights and Chief Counsel will also act as liaison with the Office of the Secretary, who owns the ADA Regulations for the Department of Transportation. The role of Katherine Hunter-Zaworski and Uwe Rutenberg (Oregon State U) was defined for the group. They will be to assisting the group in developing the specification for accessible accommodations. Kate and Uwe are experienced in developing such specifications for transit industry and Transport Canada. At the end of the review of the Charter, Melissa asked the Group if there were any questions or comments. Stanton Saucier, Ricon, whom have been involved in transit vehicle accessibility for many years, informed the group that there is statistical data about the mobility aid from the UK that can be used to determine the most appropriate design load for mobility aid lift, etc. Kate expressed interest in receiving such information even though the UK mobility aids tend to be smaller than their North American counterparts. Stanton agreed to forward the data to Melissa. Melissa informed the group, namely the car builder, that should they be interested in receiving the data as well, to send an email to her.

Rosanne Goodwill, FRA commented that the disabled community was not identified as a stakeholder in the charter. Corrections will be made to include them. Kevin Kesler commented that he had the impression that the US Access Board represented the disable community, and asked Rosanne who else we needed to include. Rosanne took the action to get us contact info for appropriate people.

Calvin Gibson, FRA suggested that John Day from FTA be invited to participate in the Working Group. According to Calvin, John has extensive knowledge in accessibility on transit vehicles. Calvin inquired on whether we should include the FRA Office of Safety in the Working Group. Kevin commented that we can decide that internally but they will be kept informed of the progress of the Group.

Melissa reviewed the PowerPoint presentation that Kevin gave during the June Technical subcommittee meeting. It was a reiteration of what was stated in the Charter. The Working Group members have a copy of the presentation. Once again, the Group was asked for comments and questions regarding the discussion. There were no comments or questions.

Calvin Gibson inquired about how the group will handle correspondence from the public in relation to accessibility. Kevin suggested that the Group keep with NGEC practices. When correspondences are received, it should be disseminated to the group unless it is proprietary in nature. Items that pertain to activities of the group should be placed on the AASHTO website or can be included on the next meeting agenda.

Melissa informed the group that she and Kate received correspondence from someone who designed a mobility lift or ramp to be used on rail cars.

Melissa thanked everyone for volunteering and reminded them that the next meeting will be August 17, 2011 at 1PM, EST. GoTo Meeting information will be sent out shortly. The strawman document will be sent out to the group before the next meeting for review and discussion.

The meeting adjourned at 2:47PM.