The national railway operator, SNCB/NMBS, violated anti-discrimination laws by failing to provide the necessary accommodations for a Paralympic athlete who uses a wheelchair, according to a ruling by the Brussels Court of Appeal on Monday.
Francis Rombouts, a resident of Tielen (Antwerp), works one day a week in Turnhout (Antwerp) and frequently needs to train in Ghent.
Tielen station’s platforms are wheelchair accessible. When Rombouts requested additional assistance in February 2015, the SNCB initially assured him that assistance would be provided. However, the company later reversed this decision, citing a lack of staff at Tielen station.
"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," Rombouts and lawyers for the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism, UNIA, previously said.
In 2016, Unia filed a cessation action against the SNCB/NMBS, which was rejected in 2017. It took nearly eight years for the case, which should have been expedited, to be heard on appeal.
The lawyers for Rombouts and Unia highlighted ongoing discrimination, and the Brussels Court of Appeal agreed. According to the court, the SNCB/NMBS is violating Article 14 of the anti-discrimination law.
The court’s ruling states that "the SNCB must end this discrimination by implementing, within three months, the equipment and assistance necessary to allow the individual to board and alight the train once a day at Tielen station, provided he requests it at least 24 hours in advance."
