Correspondence

Rail replacement vehicles: extension of non-accessible period

April 2020 letter allowing buses and coaches performing rail replacement duties to apply for exemption from accessibility requirements until 31 December 2020.

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Documents

Compliance with rail accessibility requirements for the period 1 May to 31 December 2020 letter

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Details

Letter allowing applications to extend the period of non-accessibility compliance for buses and coaches performing rail replacement duties.

The period of potential exemption is until 31 December 2020 subject to the conditions that:

  • train operating companies must source and use compliant vehicles wherever possible in the first instance, only using non-complaint vehicles that has been granted a special authorisation when other options have been exhausted
  • when no compliant vehicle is available train operating companies must provide alternative accessible transport for disabled passengers which offers the same levels of service as those for non-disabled passengers with no detriment to those passengers
  • arrangements must be made in advance during planned engineering works to ensure alternative accessible transport is readily available

This exemption supersedes the previously released period of 1 February to 30 April 2020. This extension has been given to potentially explore and devise a more ambitious timeline for providing rail replacement services that are fully compliant with current public service vehicles accessibility regulations.

Updates to this page

Published 30 April 2020

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