The Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 1998

Wheelchair-compatible doorways

19.—(1) A regulated rail vehicle in which there is a wheelchair space or wheelchair-compatible sleeping compartment shall be fitted with a wheelchair-compatible doorway on each side of the vehicle in which there is a door for the use of passengers.

(2) The width of the opening of a wheelchair-compatible doorway shall be not less than 850 millimetres.

(3) A sign conforming to diagram C in the Schedule shall be marked on the exterior of the regulated rail vehicle on not less than one side of the wheelchair-compatible doorway, or on the door, in such a position that it will be visible both before and after the door has opened.

(4) There shall be no step, or slope with a gradient exceeding five per cent measured when the vehicle is on a straight and level track, in or between the wheelchair-compatible doorway and the wheelchair space or wheelchair-compatible sleeping compartment.

(5) The passageway between the wheelchair-compatible doorway and the wheelchair space or wheelchair-compatible sleeping compartment shall not be less than 850 millimetres wide at any point, and shall provide a turning space adjacent to the wheelchair space or sleeping compartment for the disabled person in the reference wheelchair to turn the wheelchair around through one hundred and eighty degrees, which turning space may incorporate the wheelchair space.