South Cook News

Village of Homewood recently issued the following announcement. 

Amtrak has begun accepting claims for monetary compensation for people with mobility disabilities who traveled or wanted to travel from or to one of the 78 stations listed below and encountered accessibility issues at the stations.  Claims must be submitted by May 29, 2021.

On Dec. 2, 2020, the Department of Justice and Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, entered into an agreement to resolve the department’s findings of disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Under the agreement, Amtrak will fix inaccessible stations and pay $2.25 million to victims hurt by inaccessibility at the 78 stations listed below.

To be eligible for monetary compensation, an individual must:

• Have a mobility disability;
• Be harmed physically or emotionally because of accessibility issues, including, for example, inaccessible parking; steep slopes or steps to get to the station; lack of directional signs; toilet rooms with inaccessible entrances, stalls, or sinks; high ticket counters; deteriorated platforms; and narrow routes at stations, at one or more the stations listed below between July 27, 2013, and Dec. 2, 2020;
• Have lived at, visited, or desired to visit a place closer to one or more of the stations listed below than an accessible, alternative Amtrak station; and
• Submit a claim form and declaration by mail, fax, email or online to the claims administrator by no later than May 29, 2021.  Help is available from the settlement administrator for those who are unable to complete the claim form due to a disability.

Questions about making claims should be directed to the settlement administrator by any of the following methods:

• Online: AmtrakDisabilitySettlement.com
• Email: info@AmtrakDisabilitySettlement.com
• Telephone (toll-free): 1-888-334-6165
• TTY Telephone (toll-free): 1-866-411-6976

Under the agreement, Amtrak has committed to make its intercity rail stations accessible, prioritizing stations with the most significant barriers to access.  Over the next 10 years, Amtrak will design at least 135 stations to be accessible, complete construction at 90 of those stations, and have at least 45 more under construction.  Amtrak will also train staff on ADA requirements and implement an agreed-upon process for accepting and handling ADA complaints.  As part of this commitment, Amtrak recently established an Office of the Vice President of Stations, Properties & Accessibility to coordinate its compliance with the ADA.

The 78 stations are: 

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Yuma, Arizona Fort Morgan, Colorado Glenwood Springs, Colorado Granby, Colorado Old Saybrook, Connecticut Windsor, Connecticut Windsor Locks, Connecticut Newark, Delaware Gainesville, Georgia Jesup, Georgia Toccoa, Georgia Centralia, Illinois Effingham, Illinois Gilman, Illinois Homewood, Illinois Mattoon, Illinois Plano, Illinois Princeton, Illinois Rantoul, Illinois Summit, Illinois Connersville, Indiana Crawfordsville, Indiana Elkhart, Indiana Hammond-Whiting, Indiana Waterloo, Indiana Burlington, Iowa Creston, Iowa Mount Pleasant, Iowa Newton, Kansas Topeka, Kansas Maysville, Kentucky South Shore-South Portsmouth, Kentucky Lake Charles, Louisiana Aberdeen, Maryland Cumberland, Maryland Niles, Michigan Detroit Lakes, Minnesota St. Cloud, Minnesota Staples, Minnesota

Picayune, Mississippi Kirkwood, Missouri La Plata, Missouri Poplar Bluff, Missouri Cut Bank, Montana East Glacier Park, Montana Malta, Montana Holdrege, Nebraska Elko, Nevada Hudson, New York Plattsburgh, New York Port Henry, New York Devils Lake, North Dakota Coatesville, Pennsylvania Downingtown, Pennsylvania Johnstown, Pennsylvania Lewistown, Pennsylvania Parkesburg, Pennsylvania Westerly, Rhode Island Dillon, South Carolina Alpine, Texas Marshall, Texas McGregor, Texas Helper, Utah Castleton, Vermont Montpelier, Vermont Ashland, Virginia Clifton Forge, Virginia Petersburg, Virginia Richmond Staples Mill Road, Virginia Bingen-White Salmon, Washington Kelso-Longview, Washington Wishram, Washington Charleston, West Virginia Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Hinton, West Virginia Columbus, Wisconsin Tomah, Wisconsin

This action was brought by the Disability Rights Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  To read the settlement agreement, please click here, and to read the complaint, please click here.

For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit www.justice.gov/crt.  For more information on the ADA, please call the department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov.

Original source can be found here.