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Ramp widths

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Caleb2010

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I’m wondering if anyone in the know can help!

I’ve noticed that there seems to be two (or more) different ramp widths when station staff and on train staff put them down for wheelchairs and so on!

Is the ramp width dependant on the stock?

Is a wide ramp just a fit for the wider doorway of a 170, the smaller one a 158 or Mk3 or would the larger one ‘fit all’?

I’ve got a mobility scooter - within dimensions, but the narrow ramp worries me a bit!
 
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swt_passenger

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I’m wondering if anyone in the know can help!

I’ve noticed that there seems to be two (or more) different ramp widths when station staff and on train staff put them down for wheelchairs and so on!

Is the ramp width dependant on the stock?

Is a wide ramp just a fit for the wider doorway of a 170, the smaller one a 158 or Mk3 or would the larger one ‘fit all’?

I’ve got a mobility scooter - within dimensions, but the narrow ramp worries me a bit!
It is partly the width of the opening, but even when they’re roughly the same size there can be different designs of securing slots or holes on the train and matching lugs or pins on the ramp. It’s not that unusual to see 4 or 5 different ramps on a busy platform with many rolling stock types calling, and there might be different ramps used by on train catering staff to add to the list…
 

EbbwJunction1

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Newport, South Wales
I don't know the answer, but I've often noticed different ramps marked "for the use of XXX (a TOC) Only".

I guess that this is because there are different sizes, and they don't fit all trains?
 

Horizon22

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Very much dependent on the stock. Some are interchangable and some are not. Most have slightly different designs for the lugs/pins into the door plate, some don't do this, some have a slightly higher step, some are wider etc.

At somewhere like Birmingham New Street, there must be almost a dozen hidden away somewhere!

If it's Scotrail you're travelling on as long as you're in dimensions you'll be absoutely fine (the vast majority of scooters are anyway)

Wheelchair space on our trains is restricted to Standard Class carriages and to standard wheelchairs not exceeding 70cm wide, 120cm long, with a combined weight of less than 300 kilograms of user and wheelchair. These dimensions are in accordance with the National Technical Specification Notices 2021.

Portable ramps are provided on all our trains and at all accessible stations. These ramps can also be used for non wheelchair or scooter passengers who would otherwise find it difficult stepping on and off the train.
 

pdeaves

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By way of example, all four of these ramps have different labels. The two 'this side' of the rack are 'HST SF and 158' and '165/166' (SF refers to short formed (2+4) HSTs). The other two are a Crosscountry one (taller) and 'IET and 150' (shorter).

2021-11-16 02 reduced.jpg
 
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Caleb2010

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Dufftown
Thanks for your replies peeps! It’s narrower than my Walker, so it should fit on a ramp- we’ll see how it goes
 
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