Rolling Traveler

As I’ve mentioned in a few posts recently, I’ve been having a little trouble with the German rail service, Deutsche Bahn. The trains are not fully wheelchair accessible, and while there is a service that you can order to help you get on and off, if anything goes wrong with the order, you can end up being stuck on the platform, unable to get on your train. Problems with the booking of the service do happen, especially, it seems, if you make the order in person at the station.

Even if you’re a more mobile wheelchair user who can get out of your chair, or make small jumps and drops in the chair, you might find it difficult to travel: on one recent occasion, I was actually prevented from getting on the train I wanted by a station worker, even though I said I’d get myself on with no assistance. He said it was too dangerous, and that I couldn’t get on alone, but that since I didn’t have the assistance service booked, I would have to wait till they had time to help me.

On a good friend’s advice, I wrote to Deutsche Bahn and asked for clarification of a few points. Is there any way to get confirmation of booking the mobility assistance service? Is a wheelchair user required to book the service, or can we travel alone, unassisted, at our own risk? Is there any legal basis for a station worker to prevent a wheelchair user from getting on the train if they are unassisted? And what should a wheelchair user do if they want to travel spontaneously?

I am very curious as to when and if I’ll get an answer, but I do think this is the way to go in situations like this. Ask the questions in writing, get the answers in writing, keep it all official and then be able to say definitively what one should do in a given situation. At the moment, all I have to go on is what friends and station workers have said about the Deutsche Bahn services, and that’s just not enough of a clear answer.

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