A Brussels court of appeal has postponed to 31 March its ruling on a request by paralympian Francis Rombouts and UNIA to provide the facilities needed at Tielen train station for him to be able to board the train.
Belgium's centre for equal opportunities, UNIA, filed an injunction against the National Railway Company of Belgium, SNCB, in 2016, but it was rejected in 2017. An appeal was filed but it has taken almost eight years for the case, which should have been treated as an urgent matter, to be heard.
Rombouts lives in Tielen but works one day a week in Turnhout and trains frequently in Ghent. The platforms at Tielen train station are wheelchair accessible, but when he requested assistance from the SNCB in February 2015, he was initially assured that it was possible.
“Subsequently, SNCB said no assistance is provided at Tielen, an unmanned station,” the lawyers for UNIA and Rombouts said. “This persistent refusal amounts to discrimination, which Francis has been fighting for ten years,” they added.
“The station is accessible, the trains are theoretically accessible, too, but a ramp or slope is needed to bridge the height difference between the platform and the trains,” they explained.
UNIA claims the SNCB has perpetuated this need for assistance by ordering trains in 2015 and 2020 whose height does not match that of the platforms.
“Essentially, these trains are inaccessible to wheelchair users from any platform in Belgium without assistance,” UNIA argued. “The SNCB does not offer Mr Rombouts reasonable alternatives.”
“Taking the bus to Turnhout or Herentals is impractical as drivers from De Lijn frequently refuse him, and the platforms at Herentals are not independently accessible for wheelchair users,” it explained.
