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Old Mar 31, 2010, 12:44 am
  #13  
Dianne47
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Rio Rancho, NM - USA
Programs: DL, UA, WN, Amtrak, Hyatt, Accor
Posts: 1,793
Trip report - BWI travel in a wheelchair

I originally posted when we were planning our trip. We did use the train from and to BWI and it was challenging but manageable, but only if the wheelchair passenger was accompanied.

I picked up my husband at BWI airport, after riding the train myself from Quantico (VA, where I was staying) to BWI. On the train ride from Quantico to the airport I carefully observed Amtrak's onboard facilities and talked to the conductor about procedures for disabled pax. Most of the cars had the universal wheelchair emblem by at least one of the entry doors, the conductor told me to be sure my husband boarded the train at a marked door. There were large areas at those ends of the cars for luggage storage, with adjacent seating marked "Designated for persons with disabilities." I believe a person in a wheelchair could remain in the chair in the open area.

After I picked up my husband at BWI baggage claim we boarded the shuttle bus from the terminal to the train station. I forgot to take the phone number for the special bus (mentioned earlier in this thread) and I deeply regretted this lapse. There are no signs anywhere indicating that special transport is available for disabled passengers. We had to literally fight our way on and off the very crowded buses, it was difficult.

Husband can walk a little, so he boarded the bus while I handled the wheelchair and his checked bag. The facilities for wheelchair pax are pretty good at the BWI Amtrak station. There is an elevator and bridge over the tracks, then another elevator to the southbound platform. The northbound platform is adjacent to the station and requires no special effort to reach.

When I made the Amtrak reservation I indicated the wheelchair and the ticket was printed with that information. I think the conductors' manifest must have shown my husband as needing assistance. When the correct train arrived a conductor stepped off the train to assist us. He went out of his way to help with the luggage and wheelchair.

Arrival at Quantico was somewhat challenging, since there is no raised platform there and pax have to step all the way to the ground (using a stepstool for the last step!). Also, the trains (at least the ones I was on) sometimes operate on the opposite tracks to normal and you have no way of knowing which tracks the train will use until it arrives. There is no bridge across the tracks, it's most challenging for the wheelchair-bound. My daughter met us at Quantico and we had to cross the tracks, with the wheelchair turned backwards, a little hair-raising due to the number of trains that pass by - many at high speed. This was not an exercise for the faint-hearted...

The Amtrak personnel were extremely helpful and I think there was some kind of lift device for passengers who cannot get out of a wheelchair. I would strongly suggest going in person to the station you plan to use - to check out the layout. Quantico is such a small station that they don't even sell tickets there - even by machine - and there are no employees to answer questions or offer assistance. I would think most train stations are well equipped for wheelchair pax, but I would be wary of using a small station with no personnel.

We intended to ride Amtrak from Quantico to BWI for our return, but it was raining yesterday and trying to navigate the Quantico tracks crossing with baggage in a downpour seemed really stupid. So we got a ride to Union Station in D.C. and took a local MARC commuter train to BWI.

It turned out that the MARC trains depart from the only track at Union Station that doesn't have direct elevator access (all platforms are one story below the station). I sought help and found a station employee who offered to take us to the correct train using an elevator a few tracks away. He took charge of the wheelchair and we skirted around posts and other obstructions. Again (I found it almost unbelievable) we had to cross over active through-tracks to get to the correct train. The crossing was very rough and it's a good thing my husband is an old fighter pilot, it was so bumpy some people might have become motion sick. So, lesson learned, if traveling out of Union Station be sure to take Amtrak.

I will make one final comment - about the USO facility at BWI. We got to the airport yesterday several hours before our flight and attempted to use the USO. We were very frazzled from the several hours travel to the airport and using the USO facilities would have been very helpful. Unfortunately, the male volunteer who was manning the "welcome desk" was extremely rude to us.

We were accompanied by our adult daughter, whose husband was commissioned as a new Marine lieutenant the previous Friday afternoon. She doesn't have her military dependent's ID card yet. The volunteer ridiculed us, laughed at us, and treated my husband with contempt and derision. I was practically speechless as he lectured us about how we should know better than to try to bring our daughter into the USO. He kept slamming his pointed finger into a small sign that said all persons must have a military ID, while saying he was kicking us out.

We left the facility, but my husband was so incensed that he insisted on going back to get the manager's name in order to make a complaint. Husband asked the same man if the woman who was at the desk with him previously was the manager, and the man stated she was a new volunteer he was "training." I commented that it was most unfortunate that she was being trained to be rude to disabled retirees.

For anyone who transits BWI, going to/from the train station, be sure to check the airport's website and don't forget the special bus phone number. It would have helped us a lot if I hadn't forgot it.
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