ADA requires that all new station be built fully accessible for people with disability. For the existing old stations, however, only the key stations will be rebuilt or renovated to become fully accessible. This is a political compromise owing the extremely high cost of rebuild.

There are only 685 of those key stations, which are only serving major activity centers, leaving behind many people with disabilities with inaccessible rail service.

National Council on Disability has noted, “train travel has improved greatly for people with disabilities, but the ADA’s limited key station requirement has meant that some of the large, old East Coast rail systems in particular, have few accessible stations.”

The key stations were to be accessible by 1993 according to ADA, yet deadlines have been extended for commuter rail and 2023 for rapid and light rail systems.

Many accessibility features–from way­finding devices for those with visual impairments to the mechanisms used to ensure level access into rail cars–require substantial maintenance over time.

Finally, as some accessible rail systems come into service, the transit system may cease or reroute its bus service, which can negatively affect many who are dependent upon accessible bus services.