37.107 Acquisition of passenger rail cars by private entities primarily
engaged in the business of transporting people.
(a) A private entity which is primarily engaged in the business of transporting
people and whose operations affect commerce, which makes a solicitation after
February 25, 1992, to purchase or lease a new rail passenger car to
be used in providing specified public transportation, shall ensure that the
car is readily accessible to, and usable by, individuals with disabilities,
including individuals who use wheelchairs. The accessibility standards
in Part 38 which apply depend upon the type of service in which the car will
be used.
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, a private entity
which is primarily engaged in transporting people and whose operations affect
commerce, which remanufactures a rail passenger car to be used in providing
specified public transportation to extend its useful life for ten years or
more, or purchases or leases such a remanufactured rail car, shall ensure
that the rail car, to the maximum extent feasible, is made readily accessible
to and usable by individuals with disabilities, including individuals who
use wheelchairs. For purposes of this paragraph, it shall be considered
feasible to remanufacture a rail passenger car to be readily accessible to
and usable by individuals with disabilities, including individuals who use
wheelchairs, unless an engineering analysis demonstrates that doing so would
have a significant adverse effect on the structural integrity of the car.
(c) Compliance with paragraph (b) of this section is not required to the
extent that it would significantly alter the historic or antiquated character
of a historic or antiquated rail passenger car, or a rail station served
exclusively by such cars, or would result in the violation of any rule, regulation,
standard or order issued by the Secretary under the Federal Railroad Safety
Act of 1970. For purposes of this section, a historic or antiquated
rail passenger car means a rail passenger car --
- which is not less than 30 years old at the time of its use for transporting
individuals;
- the manufacturer of which is no longer in the business of manufacturing
rail passenger cars; and
- which --
(i) has a consequential association with events or persons significant
to the past; or
(ii) embodies, or is being restored to embody, the distinctive characteristics
of a type of rail passenger car used in the past, or to represent a time
period which has passed.