this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2025
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I don't get it, you posted double-decker train, then tried to rip into this solution for being less accessible?
Double decker trains don't have a ladder, they have stairs.
Edit for clarification:
This is what stairs look like for the double decker trains, if you are in a wheelchair they are still mostly inaccessible, but we can see there are seats and spaces on the platform level for people with reduced mobility.
This are the proposed ladder(vertical stairs) for that futuristic wagon. Still inaccessible by wheelchair, but also inaccessible by people with reduced mobility.
In theory that means that one entire "floor" of the Luna is accessible, compared to just the vestibules on the traditional double-decker. Considering it's trying to be a sleeper as well, I'd say that's not too bad. There is what looks to be a solid handle there to transfer in with, so as long as the aisles are wide enough, even towards the end of the car, then it looks pretty good to me. You'd want somewhere for an attendant to park the chair as well. Granted, I'm an ambulatory chair user so I don't have a read on how difficult it would be for someone without use of their legs.
However, these are just early mockups. There's plenty of potential for more accessible pods at either end of a car, close to doors, that solve the issues you've brought up. So I just struggle to see how you could look at this and definitively say it's less accessible than current double-deck designs.
In most double deckers in Germany you enter on the lower floor between the stairs and the bike space (foldable chairs and rails to strap bike to) and the stairs. Between the bike spaces is a regular sitting area separated by doors. A third up the stairs is the connection to the next cart and sometimes the toilet (some models have a accessible toilet on the ground floor), then the stairs double back for the upper sitting area.
The sleepers trains had cabins with bunk beds, making the lower ones accessible. The proposed sleeper trains have stairs to each "pod" and a very narrow corridor.
If they want to go double decker they should retrofit normal ones with beds, maybe two on top of each other on the bottom floor, and one on the top floor at higher cost.