U.S. Department of 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE

Transportation GENERAL COUNSEL Washington, DC 20590

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

49 CFR §§ 27.7(a), 37.5(a), 49 CFR Part 38 December 4, 2012

QUESTION: WHAT ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS APPLY TO PASSENGER RAIL CARS 

WHEN SPECIFIC DESIGN STANDARDS ARE NOT PROVIDED IN 49 CFR PART 38?

ANSWER:

 This guidance applies to all new and remanufactured passenger rail cars, including rail cars that 

are in the design phase on the date this guidance is issued. Rail cars that are in production but 

not yet in revenue service on the date this guidance is issued and that may have design elements 

affected by this guidance should be reviewed by the procuring passenger railroad for compliance 

with this guidance. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and/or Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA), as applicable, should be consulted where uncertainty exists as to when or 

how to apply this guidance. 

 It has been brought to the Department’s attention that some confusion exists in the industry 

regarding what standards should be applied where no specific minimum standard exists in 49 

CFR Part 38 for certain rail car accessibility features. The Department is issuing this guidance to 

remedy this confusion.

 Part 38 provides “minimum guidelines and requirements for accessibility standards in part 37 . . .

for transportation vehicles required to be accessible by the Americans With Disabilities Act 

(ADA) of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.).” There are a few instances where specific design 

standards are not provided in Part 38. For example, design standards specific to features of food 

service cars, including lounge or bistro cars, and several features found in sleeping compartment 

cars, are not described in Part 38. Nonetheless, it is the position of the Department that when 

specific design standards are not provided in Part 38, it remains the responsibility of the 

passenger railroad to design and build rail car features that are usable by people with disabilities, 

including those who use wheelchairs.

 The Department believes that the general nondiscrimination principles found in Section 37.5(a) 

and Section 27.7(a) apply in this instance. For example, 49 CFR 27.7(a) provides that “No 

qualified . . . person [with a disability] shall, solely by reason of his disability, be excluded from 

participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any 

program or activity that receives Federal financial assistance administered by the Department of

Transportation.” 
2

 It is inconsistent with these general nondiscrimination obligations to ignore the impact of the 

design and construction of rail car features on passengers with disabilities, simply because there 

is no specific minimum standard found in Part 38, especially when the result is that passengers 

with disabilities do not have access to and/or cannot use that feature.

 Providing universal access to elements of railcars, such as self-service water fountains, ice

machines, and condiment dispensers; countertops and dining elements in lounge and bistro cars;

and sleeper beds and eating surfaces provided in sleeper cars affords “a qualified . . . person 

[with a disability] an opportunity to participate in or benefit from the aid, benefit, or service that 

is . . . substantially equal to that afforded persons who are not [disabled].” 49 CFR 27.7(b)(ii). 

Rail cars should be designed and constructed to make these services usable by passengers with 

disabilities.

 In a situation in which no specific standard is found in Part 38, passenger railroads should meet 

their nondiscrimination obligation by designing and building rail cars compliant with the 

standards available for comparable elements in buildings and facilities. For example, the current 

U.S. Access Board Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) standard for countertop dimensions and 

other dining service elements, including basic guidance on reach ranges and knee and toe 

clearances, are contained in Chapters 3 and 9 of ADAAG, which are available at: 

http://www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/ada-standards-dot.cfm#. The Department adopted these 

standards in 2006 to apply to transportation facilities. See 49 CFR 37, Appendix A. 

 In designing and building rail cars, passenger railroads should refer to the ADAAG standards for 

design features not contained in Part 38, except where doing so is infeasible because of particular 

geometric constraints of the rail car design, rail car safety, or operational considerations unique 

to rail transportation. In situations involving concerns about infeasibility, the passenger railroad 

should provide its rationale for noncompliance with these standards to the FRA and/or FTA, as 

applicable.

 Nothing in this guidance requires passenger railroads to make accessible those features of 

railcars that are intended only to be used by employees of the passenger railroad for serving 

passengers. For example, a bistro car food service station that will be open and usable only 

when an employee of the railroad is present serving passengers from that station is not required 

to have accessible elements, such as an ice dispenser and soft drink fountain, if that ice dispenser 

and soft drink fountain are intended only to be used by the railroad’s employee providing drinks

to passengers. In this scenario, however, the passenger railroad would need to provide an 

accessible eating/drinking surface, and to the extent feasible, an accessible food service counter 

per ADAAG Section 904.4.

The General Counsel of the Department of Transportation has reviewed this document and 

approved it as consistent with the language and intent of 49 CFR Parts 27, 37, and 38.