CHAPTER XVI. GENERAL PROVISIONS AS TO RAILWAY TRAFFIC. ture. It was not the intention of the Legislature to confer on railway Intentions of the Legislacompanies a monopoly of the traffic passing on their lines (a); and accordingly, by the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act, sec. 85, all companies and persons are entitled to use the railway with engines and carriages properly constructed, subject to 5 and 6 Vict. c. 55, and to such regulations as the company are authorized to make. The railway company may, however, themselves provide steam-power and carriages for the conveyance of goods and passengers; and experience has shown that safety cannot be expected unless the traffic on a railway is under the exclusive control of the company (b). But it is obvious that whether the company charge tolls on carriages using their lines, or, by furnishing engines and carriages, combine in themselves the double character of owners of the line and carriers of the traffic, they will always, in the absence of a competing line, obtain a practical monopoly. To prevent or diminish the worst consequences of such a monopoly, various enactments have been passed to ensure that mails, troops, passengers, and goods shall be conveyed in a safe and commodious manner, at proper times, and on reasonable charges. By the 9 and 10 Vict. c. 57, it is enacted that, with certain exceptions, four feet eight inches in Great Britain, and five feet three inches in Ireland, shall be the gauge in future of railways conveying passengers. These provisions are guarded by (a) R. v. Severn and Wye Ra. Co., 2 B. and Ald. 648. (b) R. v. Lond. and South-West. Ra. Co., 1 Q. B. 558; R. v. Grand Junct. Ra. Co., 4 Q. B. 38. Provisions for convenience of the safety and the public. Provisions as gauge and to railway works. Powers of of railway. heavy penalties, in addition to which the railway may be abated and removed by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, or the Board of Trade. By the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act, and by the Railway Clauses Act, 1863, the Board of Trade are empowered to sanction such deviations on the engineering works described in the parliamentary sections as may be required for public safety, and to require certain arrangements to be made for the same purpose. By the 5 and 6 Vict. c. 55, no railway, or any portion thereof, can be opened for passengers until one calendar month after notice of the intention to open has been given to the Board of Trade, and until ten days after a like notice has been given of the time when the line will be, in the opinion of the company, sufficiently completed for the safe conveyance of passengers, and ready for inspection (sec. 4). An inspection is then made by an engineer officer appointed by the Board, not only of the line itself, but of the stations, buildings, engines, and carriages; and every facility for that purpose must be given him by the company, under heavy penalties (a). If, from the insufficiency of the works or plant, danger to the public is apprehended, the Board may postpone the opening from time to time, until the grounds of danger have been removed (b); and if the company open without giving the required notices, or in contravention of directions to the contrary from the Board, they incur a penalty of £20 for every day the railway continues open (c). After the railway is opened, it still continues subject to the after opening supervision of the Board of Trade. If two or more railways have a common terminus, or a common right to the use of a portion of the same line, and cannot agree upon an arrangement to conduct their traffic with safety to the public, the Board may, on the application of either company, decide the matters in dispute, in so far as the public safety is concerned (d). The Board of Trade are likewise empowered to interfere in the case of branch lines (e) and level crossings, where the safety of the public is involved (ƒ). Where the line crosses a turnpike or public carriage road on a level, the (a) 3 and 4 Vict. c. 97, s. 5; 7 and 8 Vict. c. 85, s. 15. (b) 5 and 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 6. (c) Sec. 5. (d) 5 and 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 11. (e) Ibid. sec. 12. (f) Ibid. sec. 13. company must erect a lodge, and keep a proper person to watch at the crossing, and must conform to such regulations as to speed, etc., when their trains pass the level crossing, as may be laid down by the Board of Trade (a). When the safety of the public seems to require it, the Board may direct a bridge to be substituted by the company for the level crossing; and in such a case the company are empowered to take additional land for that purpose (b). The Board of Trade have also a power to regulate the mode in which gates should be placed and closed at level crossings, and the rate of speed at crossing turnpikes near stations, which must never exceed four miles an hour (c). The erection of proper screens, etc., on the side of roads adjoining a railway are likewise placed under their control (d). Where the safety of the public requires it, the Board of Trade are empowered to authorize the company to enter on lands adjoining the railway, for the purpose of making works or erecting buildings, even though this exceeds the aggressive powers conferred by the special act. Preventing or repairing accidents, such as landslips, warrant the Board to exercise this power (e). And when the company's compulsatory powers have expired, if the Board of Trade issue a certificate to the effect that the public safety requires additional land to be taken for increasing the width of embankments or the inclination of slopes, for making approaches to bridges or archways, or for making any works for the repair or prevention of accidents, the compulsatory powers, to the extent so certified, revive (ƒ). If a railway company contravene the provisions of its special act, or any Acts of a general kind applicable to railways, fails to comply with the requirements of such Acts, or acts in a manner unauthorized by their provisions, and it appears to the Board of Trade that the public interests require such proceedings to be checked, the Board are required to certify the same to the AttorneyGeneral for England or Ireland, or to the Lord Advocate for Scotland; and these officials must then take such proceedings as may be necessary to recover the statutory penalties, or otherwise to enforce due performance of the statutory provisions, and to (a) 26 and 27 Vict. c. 92, s. 6. (b) Ibid. secs. 7 and 8. (c) 5 and 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 9; 8 and 9 Vict. c. 33, ss. 40 and 41. (d) Ibid. sec. 55. (e) 5 and 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 14. (f) Ibid. sec. 15. Obligations of railway com vey mails. restrain the company from continuing to act in an illegal manner (a). It is provided, however, that the Board shall not issue their certificate until twenty-one days after notice has been given to the company, and that no legal proceedings shall be commenced by the said officials except upon such certificate, and not later than one year after the offence has been committed (b). All railway companies are bound to convey her Majesty's panies to con- mails, and at their own costs to provide sufficient engines and carriages for this purpose (c). They must obey such orders as they receive from the Postmaster-General as to hours of starting, places and times of delivery, stoppages, guards, ordinary or special trains, etc. As to the rate of speed, it is provided that it shall not be required to exceed the maximum prescribed by the directors for the conveyance of first-class passengers, nor twenty-seven miles an hour in certain specified cases (d). The rate of remuneration to be paid the company for services of this kind is fixed by agreement between the company and the Postmaster-General; and in case of difference, it is determined by arbitration, as provided by the statute (e). But the required services cannot be postponed or suspended until the rate has been arranged (ƒ); and the services once required cannot be terminated by the Postmaster-General, without giving the company six months' notice, or an equivalent compensation (g). Conveyance of troops, etc. Two modes in which railways may be used. Railway companies are bound to carry troops, arms, and warlike stores at the desire of the proper authorities at certain statutory rates (h). The Legislature, as has been already seen, contemplates two ways in which railways may be rendered available for the purposes of public traffic. 1st, They are required to place the line, like a public highway, at the disposal of all persons or companies desiring to run engines and carriages thereon, provided such engines and (a) 7 and 8 Vict. c. 85, s. 17. (c) 1 and 2 Vict. c. 98; 7 and 8 (d) 1 and 2 Vict. c. 98, s. 1; and 7 and 8 Vict. c. 85, s. 11. (e) 1 and 2 Vict. c. 98, ss. 6, 7, 8, 16, 18. carriages are properly constructed in conformity with the provisions. of the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act, and those of their special acts, on payment of such tolls as they are entitled to demand (a); and 2d, They are themselves empowered to employ engines and carriages of the required construction for the conveyance of goods and passengers, and to make such reasonable charges therefor as they may from time to time determine on, not exceeding the tolls authorized to be levied by their special act (b). In some cases, as we shall afterwards see, they are compelled to afford certain accommodations of this kind to the public. Practically, the former method, which contemplated the use of a railway as a public highway for payment of tolls, is in desuetude, or rather was never attempted to be put in practice. Its provisions, however, come into play when, by leases or otherwise, one company obtains running powers over the line of another company. The latter method, in which the company become public carriers on their own line, is that adopted for the purposes of ordinary traffic, and several important general enactments have been made for its regulation. We shall examine the statutory provisions applicable to both modes of using the railway in their order. The tolls which a railway company are entitled to exact are Tolls, rate of. specified in the special act (c), and in this respect the provisions of these acts present great varieties. In the case of railway companies established subsequently to 9th August 1844, the Lords of the Treasury may revise the scale of tolls and fix a new one, if, after twenty-one years from the passing of the special act, the profits exceed ten per cent. (d). The company cannot exact a higher rate of tolls than that allowed by their special act; but, subject to this limitation, they have the power of varying and altering the tolls from time to time as they see fit (e). It is, however, specially provided that all tolls shall be charged equally to all persons, whether imposed per ton or otherwise; that no advance or (a) 8 and 9 Vict. c. 33, ss. 80, 85. The regulations as to the construction and use of carriages put on the railway by strangers will be found in secs. 107 to 118 inclusive. All locomotives used on the railway, whether by the company or strangers, if smoke-producing fuel be used, must be so constructed as (c) 8 and 9 Vict. c. 33, s. 79. |