The Committee has considered the following instrument and has determined that the special attention of the House should be drawn to it on the ground specified.
Draft Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2008
Summary: These Regulations introduce European accessibility standards for people with reduced mobility travelling on trains on the major lines of the United Kingdom rail network. The current domestic standard, the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 1998 (RVAR), will continue to apply to the Docklands Light Railway, the London Underground and similar metro systems. The scope of the new Regulations is broadly similar to RVAR but, in contrast to exemptions under the current domestic regime, derogations under the new regime will be dealt with administratively by the Department for Transport rather than by statutory instrument subject to a parliamentary procedure. The Government proposed making exemptions an administrative matter in the bill for the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 but the House amended the bill to require continued parliamentary control over exemptions. Since the 2005 Act was passed, we have been impressed with the thoroughness of the case presented in Explanatory Memoranda (EM) in support of each exemption order. The EM to this instrument says that the scope for derogations under the European regime is narrower than under the present regime but the House may wish to satisfy itself that it is appropriate for the Department for Transport to deal with derogations on an administrative basis. In line with the 2005 Act, the Regulations also set the date of 1 January 2020 by which time all passenger rail vehicles operating on these lines must comply with the new regime.
These Regulations are drawn to the special attention of the House on the ground that they give rise to issues of public policy likely to be of interest to the House.
1. The Department for Transport (DfT) have laid these Regulations under section 46(1) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as amended, section 2(2) of the European Communities Act and section 247 of the Transport Act 2000 together with an Explanatory Memorandum (EM). Additional information from the Department is printed at the Appendix to this report.
2. These Regulations introduce European accessibility standards for people with reduced mobility travelling on trains on major lines of the UK rail network as set out in a "technical specification for interoperability" for "persons with reduced mobility" (PRM TSI) annexed to Decision 2008/164/EC of the European Commission of 21 December 2007. The definition of "persons with reduced mobility" (PRM) is broader than the definition of "disabled person" used in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, as the former also covers groups with mobility impairments including limb impairments, ambulant difficulties, those travelling with children, those travelling with heavy luggage, elderly people and pregnant women.
3. The technical requirements in the PRM TSI are mainly equivalent or superior to the existing domestic regulations. There are however a small number of areas where the new standards are less onerous. Most of these areas are changes which standardise the UK with usage elsewhere in Europe, for example as to the size and iconography of signage. More significant differences are:
a minimum clearway and doorway width for wheelchair users of 800mm (currently 850mm in domestic standards). This nonetheless remains accessible to someone in a "reference wheelchair" (which is 700mm wide); and
that the minimum duration and type of tone for door warnings may not be ideal.
4. The European standards will apply to all new heavy passenger vehicles commissioned after 1 July 2008. In addition, the Regulations set an end date of 1 January 2020, by which time all passenger vehicles operating on these lines must comply. Some parts of the industry have argued that this is gold-plating the EC legislation since that does not include an end date; however the end date chosen retains the general compliance date set by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 ("the 2005 Act") in relation to the previous domestic standards.
5. These Regulations will apply to heavy rail vehicles carrying passengers on major lines, which represents about 70% of the national rail network (a more detailed explanation is given in the Appendix). The domestic standard, the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 1998 (RVAR), will continue to apply to the Docklands Light Railway, the London Underground and similar metro systems.
