Wheelchair access at top of Macdonaldtown station stairs

Despite CityRail boasting of the disabled-friendly features on its website, the rail agency neglects to explain how such passengers are supposed to use them.

Macdonaldtown, between Redfern and Newtown on the Inner-West line, has no ramp and no lift for wheelchair users to access the station, only a set of stairs.

Yet it is slap bang at the top of these stairs that it has put its wheelchair-accessible payphone.

And despite the lack of access, the website boasts a "portable platform to train boarding ramp".

The only way a wheelchair-bound person could use the payphone would be to catch a train there, make a call and then catch a train back to a wheelchair-accessible station.

A RailCorp spokesman said the wheelchair-friendly phone had been installed by Telstra as per its legal requirements.

"The public phone at Macdonaldtown station was installed by Telstra in compliance with its obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act," he said.

Disability advocacy groups say the situation is indicative of RailCorp's lack of consideration of wheelchair users - a problem set to worsen with mooted staff cuts.

"Recent developments would indicate that the NSW Government has no overall plan to provide accessible public transport," Spinal Cord Injury Australia president David Brice told The Daily Telegraph.

"Planning for access to rail transport is piecemeal and decisions now seem to be made in an ad hoc fashion without any consultation with people with disabilities or the organisations that represent them.

"Many stations are still not accessible - stair access only - preventing access to wheelchair users, many elderly people and mothers with prams etc.

"To demonstrate the lack of proper planning, one only has to look at Sydney's Macdonaldtown station.

"Although only accessible by a flight of stairs, rail authorities have been smart enough to provide a wheelchair-friendly phone at the top of the stairs."

Source: www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,27574,25496601-5006009,00.html