West v Great Northern Railway (Ir.)
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1946 |
| Date | 01 January 1946 |
| Court | King's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
- Private level accommodation crossing - Standard of maintenance -Increase of burden of easement - Railway Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 (8 9 Vict., c. 20), s. 68.
The obligation to maintain accommodation works under section 68 of the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, is to be measured not according to modern standards of traffic but to those prevailing or contemplated at the time of construction. The plaintiff's farm was bisected by a line of the defendants' railway and the two parts were connected by a crossing made as an accommodation work pursuant to the provisions of the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845. A motor tractor and rake belonging to the plaintiff and in charge of his servants were caught in the rails as they were passing over the crossing and were run into by a train driven by the defendants' servants. In an action for damages for the destruction of the motor tractor and rake the plaintiff claimed that the loss was caused by a breach of statutory duty in that the defendants had not maintained the crossing as required by section 68 of the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845. The defendants contended that their duty to maintain the crossing was limited to maintaining it in a condition sufficient for the passage of traffic in use when the crossing was originally constructed, and that the plaintiff's claim to have the crossing maintained for the passage of modern farm...
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