Railways Act 1993
Railways Act 1993
1993 CHAPTER 43
An Act to provide for the appointment and functions of a Rail Regulator and a Director of Passenger Rail Franchising and of users' consultative committees for the railway industry and for certain ferry services; to make new provision with respect to the provision of railway services and the persons by whom they are to be provided or who are to secure their provision; to make provision for and in connection with the grant and acquisition of rights over, and the disposal or other transfer and vesting of, any property, rights or liabilities by means of which railway services are, or are to be, provided; to amend the functions of the British Railways Board; to make provision with respect to the safety of railways and the protection of railway employees and members of the public from personal injury and other risks arising from the construction or operation of railways; to make further provision with respect to transport police; to make provision with respect to certain railway pension schemes; to make provision for and in connection with the payment of grants and subsidies in connection with railways and in connection with the provision of facilities for freight haulage by inland waterway; to make provision in relation to tramways and other guided transport systems; and for connected purposes.
[5th November 1993]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
The Provision of Railway Services
Introductory
1 The Rail Regulator and the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising.
(1) The Secretary of State shall appoint—
(a) an officer to be known as ‘the Rail Regulator’ (in this Act referred to as ‘the Regulator’), and
(b) an officer to be known as ‘the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising’ (in this Act referred to as ‘the Franchising Director’),
for the purpose of carrying out the functions assigned or transferred to the Regulator, or (as the case may be) the Franchising Director, by or under this Act.
(2) An appointment of a person to hold office as the Regulator or the Franchising Director shall be for a term not exceeding five years; but previous appointment to either of those offices shall not affect eligibility for re-appointment (or for appointment to the other of them).
(3) The Secretary of State may remove any person from office as the Regulator or the Franchising Director on the ground of incapacity or misbehaviour.
(4) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) above, a person appointed as the Regulator or the Franchising Director shall hold and vacate office as such in accordance with the terms of his appointment.
(5) The Franchising Director shall be a corporation sole by the name of ‘The Director of Passenger Rail Franchising’.
(6) The provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the Regulator and the Franchising Director.
2 Rail users' consultative committees.
(1) The Area Transport Users Consultative Committees established under section 56 of the Transport Act 1962 are hereby abolished and the London Regional Passengers' Committee established under section 40 of the London Regional Transport Act 1984 (which is treated by virtue of section 41 of that Act as such a committee for certain purposes) shall accordingly cease to be treated as one of those committees for any purpose.
(2) The Regulator shall establish a number of committees, not exceeding nine at any one time, to be known as Rail Users' Consultative Committees (in this Part referred to as ‘consultative committees’).
(3) There shall be one consultative committee for Scotland, and one for Wales.
(4) In addition to the consultative committees established under subsection (2) above, the London Regional Passengers' Committee shall be treated as the consultative committee for the Greater London area for all purposes of this Part other than—
(a) subsections (2) and (3) above and subsections (6) to (8) below;
(b) section 79 below; and
(c) Schedule 2 to this Act;
and references in this Part to a consultative committee shall be construed accordingly.
(5) Subject to subsections (3) and (4) above—
(a) each consultative committee shall be appointed for such area as the Regulator may from time to time assign to it; and
(b) the Regulator shall so assign areas to consultative committees as to secure that every place in Great Britain forms part of the area of a consultative committee, and that no place forms part of the area of two or more consultative committees.
(6) Each consultative committee established under subsection (2) above shall consist of—
(a) a chairman appointed by the Secretary of State after consultation with the Regulator; and
(b) such other members, being not less than ten nor more than twenty in number, as the Regulator may from time to time appoint, after consultation with the Secretary of State and the chairman.
(7) The chairman and other members of a consultative committee established under subsection (2) above shall hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms of the instruments appointing them and shall, on ceasing to hold office, be eligible for re-appointment.
(8) The provisions of Schedule 2 to this Act shall have effect with respect to each of the consultative committees established under subsection (2) above.
(9) Unless the Secretary of State, after consultation with the Regulator, otherwise directs, ‘the Greater London area’ means, for the purposes of this section, the area for which, immediately before the coming into force of this section, the London Regional Passengers' Committee was treated, by virtue of section 41(1) of the London Regional Transport Act 1984 , as the Area Transport Users Consultative Committee for the purposes there mentioned.
3 The Central Rail Users' Consultative Committee.
(1) The Central Transport Consultative Committee for Great Britain, established under section 56 of the Transport Act 1962, is hereby abolished.
(2) There shall be a committee, to be known as the Central Rail Users' Consultative Committee (in this Part referred to as ‘the Central Committee’).
(3) The Central Committee shall consist of—
(a) a chairman, appointed by the Secretary of State after consultation with the Regulator;
(b) every person who for the time being holds office as chairman of a consultative committee established under section 2(2) above or as chairman of the London Regional Passengers' Committee; and
(c) not more than six other members, appointed by the Regulator after consultation with the Secretary of State and the chairman.
(4) The chairman of the Central Committee and any members appointed under subsection (3)(c) above shall hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms of the instruments appointing them and shall, on ceasing to hold office, be eligible for re-appointment.
(5) The provisions of Schedule 3 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the Central Committee.
4 General duties of the Secretary of State and the Regulator.
(1) The Secretary of State and the Regulator shall each have a duty to exercise the functions assigned or transferred to him under or by virtue of this Part in the manner which he considers best calculated—
(a) to protect the interests of users of railway services;
(b) to promote the use of the railway network in Great Britain for the carriage of passengers and goods, and the development of that railway network, to the greatest extent that he considers economically practicable;
(c) to promote efficiency and economy on the part of persons providing railway services;
(d) to promote competition in the provision of railway services;
(e) to promote measures designed to facilitate the making by passengers of journeys which involve use of the services of more than one passenger service operator;
(f) to impose on the operators of railway services the minimum restrictions which are consistent with the performance of his functions under this...
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