UK: The House of Commons Transport Committee has said that the failure of several operators to meet previous targets to make trains fully accessible is unacceptable, and it has asked the Department for Transport to set out the sanctions that will apply if companies fail to meet deadlines.
In its sixth Trains Fit For The Future? report, the committee says DfT’s extension of deadlines to May 31 does not treat the matter with the seriousness that it deserves.
‘The industry has had 11 years to prepare for legislation making it unlawful for a passenger rail train to be in service unless it is accessible’, said Transport Committee Chair Huw Merriman. ‘There are at least four train operators that are still not complying with legal accessibility requirements. It is not acceptable for the Department for Transport to continue to sign dispensations. Public transport must be accessible to all. The government and industry must make this happen.’
The four train operators with dispensations are Transport for Wales, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia and Northern.
