Approval of the wheelchair areas in the new long-distance trains of the SBB

Facts

On November 29, 2010, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) submitted the specification sheet or requirements catalog, including type sketches, for the new long-distance double-decker multiple units IR100, IR200 and IC200 to the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) for approval. This included information on the barrier-free design, in particular a wheelchair area with three wheelchair spaces and a wheelchair-accessible universal toilet on the lower deck of the "middle car restaurant" of the IC200 module.

The FOT approved the specification sheet subject to several conditions, including the requirement to confirm the implementation of the barrier-free design in writing and to submit a differential analysis with respect to the Railway Ordinance (EBV) and the Ordinance on the Technical Requirements for Barrier-Free Design of Public Transport (VAböV).

The Integration Handicap Association and the Foundation for the Promotion of a Barrier-Free Built Environment filed an appeal against this decision with the Federal Administrative Court. Among other things, they demanded that the wheelchair area be relocated to a car adjacent to the dining car.

The Federal Administrative Court partially upheld the appeals and ordered that the wheelchair area with three spaces and a wheelchair-accessible toilet be relocated to another car, while the catering zone on the lower deck of the dining car with two wheelchair spaces and a wheelchair-accessible universal toilet should be retained.

The SBB appealed against this judgment to the Federal Supreme Court.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court concluded that the consolidation of the wheelchair area and the catering zone for people with reduced mobility on the lower deck of the dining car, as provided for in the specification sheet and the type sketches, does not lead to unconstitutional or unlawful discrimination or disadvantage of people with disabilities.

The court argued that while wheelchair users cannot use every part of the train in exactly the same way as non-disabled persons, this alone does not constitute an inadmissible obstruction of access or…