# The Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Non-Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2010, Paragraph 9: Handholds


(1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2), a handhold must be fitted to the top of the back of each passenger seat which faces towards an end of a rail vehicle and is next to a gangway in a passenger saloon, and must comply with the following requirements—
(a) it must contrast with the seat to which it is attached;
(b) it must have a slip-resistant surface;
(c) any edges or corners in its surface (including those in its mountings with the seat) must be rounded off;
(d) its exterior design must not incorporate any empty space or gap, including any between it and the seat to which it is attached, having less than 45 millimetres clearance for a passenger's hand; and
(e) if its exterior design incorporates any empty space or gap, the cross section of the handhold, excluding any mountings, must have a width of not more than 40 millimetres at its widest point and not less than 20 millimetres at its narrowest point.
(2) Sub-paragraph (1) does not apply to a seat—
(a) the back of which touches a partition;
(b) the back of which touches the back of another seat which faces in the opposite direction and is fitted with a handhold;
(c) which reclines and which, in the reclined position, touches the back of another reclining seat in the reclined position which faces in the opposite direction and is fitted with a handhold;
(d) to which a handrail is attached; or
(e) which is situated no more than 50 millimetres from a handrail, handhold or partition measured from the top of the back of that seat in both the fixed and, as the case may be, reclined position.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/432/schedule/1/paragraph/9 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/rail-vehicle-accessibility-non-interoperable-rail-system-regulations-2010/schedule-1/paragraph-9
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.