The “Touristic Salt Express Sets Out to Remove Obstacles Project” train was sent off with a ceremony from Ankara Station.
ANKARA (AA) – Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş and guests attended the ceremony held at the historical Ankara Train Station on the occasion of December 3, World Disability Day.
Uraloğlu, in his speech here, said that today is an important day to touch the lives of disabled people and ensure their equal participation in society.
Underlining that the project is an effort to overcome obstacles and strengthen the awareness of living together rather than just a travel event, Uraloğlu said, “This special train will not only travel on the rails, but will also enable us to empathize more with our disabled citizens by building bridges from heart to heart. Our Touristic Salt Express will deliver its private passengers to Çankırı after a pleasant journey of approximately 3 hours. “Our passengers will visit the historical and touristic places of Çankırı, especially the ‘Underground Salt City’ with a history of 5 thousand years, accompanied by buses and guides.” he said.
Uraloğlu pointed out that disabled individuals are an integral part of society, and noted that World Disability Day should be seen as an opportunity for the society to be more sensitive to the difficulties faced by disabled citizens.
Emphasizing that the whole society should show sensitivity in order to make the lives of disabled citizens easier, to ensure their integration with society and to look to the future with hope, Uraloğlu said:
“Since 2002, under the leadership of our President, our governments have prioritized equality of opportunity in all areas and have endeavored to make the lives of our disabled citizens easier and to realize their hopes and aspirations. As the Ministry, we work to remove obstacles to our disabled and disabled citizens and encourage their participation in life. “We work to ensure that our citizens with different needs have services and accessibility opportunities designed to suit them.”
Uraoğlu explained that they aim to create an accessible, equal conditions, uninterrupted, safe and independent transportation system for everyone with the 5-year Accessible Transportation Strategy and Action Plan covering the years 2021-2025.
– Orange table service is provided at 26 train stations and stations
Uraloğlu stated that, within the scope of the free travel right offered by the state to disabled citizens, 7.4 million disabled passengers benefited from the right to free travel on high-speed trains (YHT) and main line trains between 2017 and 2024, and continued as follows:
“We started the ‘Orange Desk Service Point’ applications at both our train stations and airports to support our disabled citizens at every stage of their journey, from purchasing tickets to returning home. We provide orange table service at 26 train stations and train stations. To date, more than 69 thousand disabled or elderly passengers have benefited from this service. For our visually impaired citizens, there is an audio information system in our suburban trains such as Marmaray and Başkentray, and there are direction signs in Braille alphabet. We produce the vehicles we use on our railways to suit the needs of our disabled individuals, and we also convert vehicles that are not suitable in our current fleet. “We have special areas for our wheelchair users on YHT, main line and regional trains.”
Uraloğlu said that they initiated the Passenger-Friendly Airport Project so that disabled and mobility-restricted passengers can have easier access to airports and that they gained “Accessibility Certificate” for 40 airports.
Stating that Sivas Nuri Demirağ and Balıkesir Koca Seyit airports were deemed worthy of the jury award in the “Public Institutions and Organizations” category of the “Accessibility Awards” given by the Ministry of Family and Social Services within the scope of the “2020 Year of Accessibility” declared by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Uraloğlu continued as follows: :
“Thanks to the project, we increase service quality by giving priority to our disabled, elderly and special needs passengers and shorten waiting times at the terminal. We have also implemented exemplary accessible airport applications at Istanbul Airport. ‘located in 23 different locations’ Ask Me Digital Information KiosksWe provide audio and video live consultation and Turkish sign language services through ‘. We also accelerated R&D studies for an accessible future in the field of transportation and communications. We provide 100 million lira support to R&D projects prepared for a more accessible future in the field of transportation and communications with the theme of ‘Barrier-free transportation for everyone’. “We aim to launch the ‘Mobility for All Mobile Application’ in the near future, which will minimize or completely eliminate the problems that disabled individuals may encounter during their travels.”
– “The basis of our service policies is the principle of ‘people first’”
Uraloğlu pointed out that they provide video support to disabled individuals with e-Government Call Center employees who know sign language within the scope of the “Barrier-Free Call Center Project”.
Uraloğlu said that PTT AŞ made PTTMatiks accessible for individuals with limited mobility and added:
“In addition, PTT pays monthly salaries to its disabled customers at their homes or workplaces, as they wish. We also work in coordination with relevant units within the scope of inspection activities to prevent disabled parking and sidewalk occupations. In the period between April 2022 and September 2024, we carried out 2 million 332 thousand 161 inspections on this issue and implemented 633 thousand 627 penal procedures. No one should have any doubt, we will continue to embrace all our people, win and strive until we bring our country to a modern level in this field. We are stronger together. Just as being disabled is not a deficiency or flaw, being healthy is not an advantage. The important thing is that a person mobilizes all his resources to win this difficult test. The basis of our service policies is the principle of ‘people first’. This project is just the beginning. “We will continue to work together to build a more accessible world for our disabled individuals.”
After the speeches, Ministers Uraloğlu and Göktaş visited the disabled individuals in their wagons, gave them flowers and then sent them off on the Touristic Salt Express.
