A bridge plate, or bridgeplate, is a mechanical, movable form of

wheelchair ramp A wheelchair ramp is an inclined plane installed in addition to or instead of stairs. Ramps permit wheelchair users, as well as people pushing strollers, carts, or other wheeled objects, to more easily access a building, or navigate between are ...

that is used on some

low-floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

light rail vehicles (LRVs) to provide for

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

access. The bridge plate extends from the vehicle to the

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

, which must be raised to close to the level of the floor of the vehicle so that the wheelchair need not travel over an excessively steep ramp (in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, the Americans with Disabilities Act specifies that the slope must be no more than 1 inch of rise for every 12 inches of length). Some low-floor

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es also use bridge plates (in this case, extending to the curb) to provide for wheelchair access, but many

low-floor bus A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between the ground and the floor of the bus at one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. A bus with a partial low floor may also be referred to as a low ...

es instead use a

ramp An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

that normally serves as part of the floor but can be flipped out through the door (using a hinge at the door) onto the curb or street; in this case the ramp is long enough that it can serve as a true wheelchair ramp rather than a bridge without being excessively steep. Bridge plates can be manually deployed (by the vehicle operator or other crew person) or powered, rectractable ramps. The first passenger rail cars in North America to be equipped with retractable bridge plates were

TriMet TriMet, formally known as the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, is a public agency that operates mass transit in a region that spans most of the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Created in 1969 ...

's (

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

)

Siemens SD660 The Siemens SD660, originally known as the Siemens SD600, is a double-articulated, 70%-low-floor light rail vehicle (LRV) manufactured by Siemens Transportation Systems. It was the first low-floor light rail vehicle to be used in the United Stat ...

LRVs, the first of which were completed in 1996. Earlier, in 1987, the newly opened

Sacramento RT Light Rail Sacramento RT Light Rail is a light rail system that serves the Sacramento, California area. It consists of three rail lines, 54 stations, and a fleet of 96 vehicles. It is operated by the Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT). With an ave ...

system used non-powered, station-platform-mounted bridge plates to bridge the gap between a high-platform section at each station and the floor of an LRV.

Manually operated bridge plates

On some railway stations in France and the United Kingdom, it may not be possible provide permanent level access from the platform to the train if different types of trains pass through or serve the station. To overcome this issue, a station may have one or more staff-operated boarding ramp on the platforms, to be deployed when a wheelchair user boards the train.

Bridge plates across tracks

Much larger bridge plates, spanning across tracks, are used for boarding when the track next to the platform is closed, especially for maintenance. These plates can be dangerous, as the section of track must be taken out of service and trains rerouted to avoid colliding with the plates.

References

Mobility devices Public transport Passenger rail transport {{tram-stub

Manually operated bridge plates

Bridge plates across tracks

See also

References