Thailand launches pilot barrier-free transport project for PWDs

BANGKOK, February 6 (TNA) - Thailand has launched a pilot rail transport project for persons with disabilities (PWDs) based on the universal design approved by the United Nations. Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt on Wednesday presided over a ceremony to launch the pilot barrier-free transport project for PWDs at Bangkok's main Hua Lam Pong train station, sponsored by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), which has spent some 5.1 million baht to develop the new rail service, through which four train bogies have been modified specially to serve PWDs travelers. During the launch, SRT invited PWDs representatives from the Redemptorist Foundation for People with Disabilities and others to try out the new rail facility on an eastern round-trip on the Bangkok- Chachoengsao route. The transport minister, meanwhile, acknowledged that it will cost less if all transport facilities in Thailand are developed based on the universal design since they are first constructed, rather than during their improvement plans, vowing that his ministry will, therefore, continue to develop nationwide public transport facilities based on the UN-guidelined universal design. (TNA)