The Rail Vehicle Accessibility (B2007 Vehicles) Exemption Order 2008

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (B2007 Vehicles) Exemption Order 2008 and shall come into force on the day after the day on which it is made.

Interpretation

2.  In this Order—

“exempt vehicle” means a rail vehicle of the type known as B2007 and with a number in the series 101 to 155;

“internal passenger information system” means a system for audible and visual announcements inside a passenger saloon of an exempt vehicle; and

“regulation” means a regulation in the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 1998(1).

Exemptions

3.  Subject to articles 4 to 6, an exempt vehicle is authorised to be used for carriage even if it does not, or it is used in a manner that does not, conform with—

(a) regulation 4(3)(b) (audible warning before door closes);

(b) regulation 5(2) (illumination to cease before door closes);

(c) regulation 11(3) (handhold on top of seat), but only in so far as it applies to a seat in a position where there is a gap of no more than 50 millimetres between the top of the back of the seat and a partition;

(d) regulation 13(4) (passenger information when vehicle is stationary), but only in so far as it applies to the internal passenger information system;

(e) regulation 16(1)(d) (no fitting for other passengers accessible through the wheelchair space), but only in so far as it applies to a horizontal handrail; and

(f) regulation 23(1) (boarding device when there is a wheelchair-compatible doorway).

Conditions

4.—(1) The exemption from regulation 4(3)(b) only applies if either or both of paragraphs (2) and (5) applies to each passenger door of the exempt vehicle.

(2) This paragraph applies if—

(a) the passenger door can only be closed by a member of the operator’s staff on the train or next to a doorway of the train;

(b) the audible warning device that emits a distinct sound when the door becomes openable by a passenger emits a different distinct sound only while the door is closing; and

(c) that sound lasts for a period of not less than 3 seconds.

(3) The exemption from regulation 5(2) only applies if either or both of paragraphs (4) and (5) applies to each passenger door of the exempt vehicle.

(4) This paragraph applies if—

(a) the passenger door can only be closed by a member of the operator’s staff on the train or next to a doorway of the train; and

(b) the illumination of the door control or its immediate surround, as required by regulation 5(1)(c), ceases when the door starts to close.

(5) This paragraph applies if the passenger door is under the direct supervision of a member of the operator’s staff who is standing next to the door when it is closing.

(6) The exemption from regulation 13(4) only applies if—

(a) whilst the vehicle is stationary at a station the internal passenger information system is used to announce the name of the station; and

(b) the internal passenger information system is used to announce shortly after leaving that station the vehicle’s destination and next stop.

(7) The exemption from regulation 23(1) only applies if the gap referred to in that regulation is not more than 85 millimetres measured horizontally and not more than 50 millimetres measured vertically.

Restrictions

5.—(1) The exemptions from regulations 4(3)(b), 5(2) and 13(4) only apply to exempt vehicles on the Docklands Light Railway network.

(2) The exemption from regulation 23(1) only applies to an exempt vehicle operating at the stations on the Docklands Light Railway network listed in the Schedule to this Order.

Expiry

6.—(1) The exemptions from regulations 11(3) and 16(1)(d) expire on 31st December 2009.

(2) The exemption from regulation 23(1) expires on 31st December 2014.

(3) The exemptions from regulations 4(3)(b), 5(2) and 13(4) expire on 31st December 2016.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

Tom Harris

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Transport

30th March 2008