Rolling Stock: Disability

(asked on 3rd February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to set consistent standards on rail carriages to ensure that they are accessible for people with disabilities.


Answered by
Chris Heaton-Harris Portrait
Chris Heaton-Harris
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
This question was answered on 9th February 2021

The Equality Act 2010 gives the Secretary of State powers to establish regulations to require rail vehicles to be designed and built to make them accessible to disabled passengers and persons of reduced mobility. Accessibility standards for new and refurbished rail carriages are mandated through the Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2011 and the Rail Vehicle (Non-Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2010. There are currently nearly 16,000 rail carriages in service which comply with these standards.

During 2020, 2 new targeted compliance dispensations and 17 time-limited dispensations were granted. There were a further 11 targeted compliance dispensations which were re-issued with amended annexes listing individual vehicle references.

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