Greybeard33
Established Member
The DDA 1995 has been superseded by the Equality Act 2010. But Section 182 of that Act, rail vehicle accessibility regulations, specifically excludes mainline rail vehicles from its scope:But much of this is trumped by the requirements of the RVAR and PRM-TSI. The Pacers don't meet these requirements (with the possible exception of 144012), so they'd need either a derogation from the SoS to be used as they are (as per the DDA 1995, section 47), or authorisation from the SoS to undertake the modifications, on top of permission to renew the lease on the trains. So it ends up being a political decision either way.
(The "trans-European rail system located in Great Britain" comprises the entire National Rail network). Likewise the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Non-Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2010 (RVAR), which were made under the provisions of the Act, are only applicable to light rail (metro, underground and tram) systems.“rail vehicle” means a vehicle constructed or adapted to carry passengers on a railway, tramway or prescribed system other than a vehicle used in the provision of a service for the carriage of passengers on the trans-European rail system located in Great Britain.
For mainline rail vehicles the EU PRM-TSI is the relevant legislation, implemented in the UK by The Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2011 (RIR). However, at the pan-European level the PRM-TSI is applicable only to new vehicles and vehicles undergoing major refurbishment. The 2020 deadline is a UK national requirement, specified by Regulation 45 of the RIR:
(Clause (b) permits compliance with the RVAR as an alternative to the PRM-TSI, but the two sets of regulations are very similar).Accessibility for people with reduced mobility
45. No person is to use a vehicle in the provision of a service for the carriage of passengers on the trans-European rail system located in the United Kingdom on or after 1st January 2020 unless it has been constructed, renewed, upgraded or modified to comply with the technical standards, and is operated to comply with the operational standards, required by—
(a)the TSI relating to persons with reduced mobility set out in the Annex to Decision 2008/164/EC of the European Commission of 21st December 2007, or any amended version of it, or any TSI which replaces it;
(b)Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Non-Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2010;
(c)the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001; or
(d)the TSI, or amended version of it or TSI replacing it, referred to in paragraph (a) except to the extent that—
(i)the vehicle or its operation complies with the technical or operational standards required by the provisions referred to in paragraphs (b) or (c),
(ii)a derogation from part of it has been granted under regulation 14,
(iii)a determination that part of it does not apply has been made under regulation 13(8), and
(iv)a dispensation that part of it does not apply for the purposes of this regulation has been granted under regulation 46.
Although there has been much discussion of derogations in this forum, in respect of the RIR regulation 45 the correct term is dispensation, as the DfT explained in this FOI request:
It is clear from this that dispensations are intended to permit minor deviations from specific PRM-TSI requirements, where full compliance would be unreasonably costly. For example, the height and arrangement of door buttons. And all dispensations have to be agreed with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC).Dispensation policy
I have provided below a background to the Department’s policy on derogations and
dispensations. You may find this helpful to clarify how we reach decisions on granting
dispensations.
Derogations
A dispensation differs from a derogation in that a derogation can only be granted by the
European Commission and applies in particular circumstances – either the design of a
new vehicle or major renewal of an existing vehicle which triggers the renewals threshold.
Compliance with the PRM-TSI is mandated by the Railways (Interoperability) Regulations
2011. Under section 46 of these Regulations, the Secretary of State has powers to grant
dispensations from particular standards to allow a vehicle to continue in operation after 1
January 2020.
Dispensations
The Department permits older vehicles undergoing refurbishment ahead of the 2020
deadline to apply for dispensations under a policy of ‘targeted compliance’. Assessments
were carried out between 2007 and 2012 on site visits to example vehicles on a type
(class) basis. The level of compliance achievable for each vehicle was considered in
conjunction with and agreed by DPTAC. The Department issued formal notification of the
areas in which improvement of accessibility levels were expected and confirmed where
we would consider issuing dispensations for the vehicles under our targeted compliance
policy. An example of such a letter can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/203711/cla
ss-158-all-covering-letter.pdf
For unmodified Pacers to continue operating in passenger service next year, they would require exemption from pretty much all the PRM-TSI requirements. It seems to me that this would be beyond the scope of dispensations against regulation 45 of the RIR, so amendment of the regulation itself would be required.
Either way, it would be politically highly embarrassing for the Transport Secretary to grant such an exemption, with the risk of a clash with the DPTAC. I think there will be considerable DfT pressure on Northern to get rid of all the Pacers by year end.