CHAPTER 48. AN ACT to make better provision for carrying into effect the Railway and 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: Preliminary. 1. THIS Act may be cited as the Regulation of Railways Act, 1873. Short title. ment of Act. 2. THIS Act shall, except as herein is otherwise expressly provided, come Commenceinto operation on the first day of September one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, which date is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act. 3. IN this Act The term "railway company includes any person being the owner or lessee of or working any railway in the United Kingdom constructed or carried on under the powers of any Act of Parliament: The term "canal company" includes any person being the owner or lessee The term "person" includes a body of persons corporate or unincorporate: The term "traffic" includes not only passengers and their luggage, goods, The term "mails" includes mail bags and post-letter bags: Definitions.. The term "special Act" means a local or local and personal Act, or an Act The term "the Treasury" means the Commissioners of Her Majesty's The term "superior court" means in England any of Her Majesty's c. 121. Appointment missioners. Appointment and Duties of Railway Commissioners. 4. For the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of the Railway of railway com- and Canal Traffic Act, 1854, and of this Act, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, at any time after the passing of this Act, by warrant under the royal sign manual, to appoint not more than three Commissioners, of whom one shall be of experience in the law, and one of experience in railway business, and not more than two Assistant Commissioners, and upon the occurrence of any vacancy in the office of any such Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner from time to time in like manner to appoint some fit person to fill the vacancy. It shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor, if he think fit, to remove for inability or misbehaviour any Commissioner appointed in pursuance of this Act. Commissioners not to be interested in railway or canal stock. Transfer to Vict. c. 31. s. 3. The three Commissioners appointed under this Act (and in this Act referred to as the Commissioners) shall be styled the Railway Commissioners, and shall have an official seal which shall be judicially noticed. They may act notwithstanding any vacancy in their number. The said Assistant Commissioners shall hold office during the pleasure of Her Majesty. 5. ANY person appointed a Commissioner under this Act shall within three calendar months after his appointment absolutely sell and dispose of any stock, share, debenture stock, debenture bond, or other security of any railway or canal company in the United Kingdom which he shall at the time of his appointment own or be interested in for his own benefit; and it shall not be lawful for any person appointed a Commissioner under this Act, so long as he shall hold office as such Commissioner, to purchase, take, or become interested in for his own benefit any such stock, share, debenture stock, debenture bond, or other security; and if any such stock, share, debenture stock, debenture bond or other security, or any interest therein, shall come to or vest in such Commissioner by will or succession, for his own benefit, he shall within three calendar months after the same shall so come to or vest in him absolutely sell and dispose of the same or his interest therein. It shall not be lawful for the Commissioners, except by consent of the parties to the proceedings, to exercise any jurisdiction by this Act conferred upon them in any case in which they shall be, directly or indirectly, interested in the matter in question. The Commissioners shall devote the whole of their time to the performance of their duties under this Act, and shall not accept or hold any office or employment inconsistent with this provision. 6. ANY person complaining of anything done or of any omission made in violation or contravention of section two of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1854, or of section sixteen of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1868, or of this Act, or of any enactment amending or applying the said enactments respectively, may apply to the Commissioners, and upon the certificate of the Board of Trade alleging any such violation or contravention any person appointed by the Board of Trade in that behalf may in like manner apply to the Commissioners; and for the purpose of enabling the Commissioners to hear and determine the matter of any such complaint, they shall have and may exercise all the jurisdiction conferred by section three of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1854, on the several courts and judges empowered to hear and determine complaints under that Act; and may make orders of like nature with the writs and orders authorised to be issued and made by the said courts and judges; and the said courts and judges shall, except for the purpose of enforcing any decision or order of the Commissioners, cease to exercise the jurisdiction conferred on them by that section. Power for Commissioners 7. WHERE the Commissioners have received any complaint alleging the infringement by a railway company or canal company of the provisions of any to enable comenactment in respect of which the Commissioners have jurisdiction, they may, panies to explain alleged if they think fit, before requiring or permitting any formal proceedings to be violation of taken on such complaint, communicate the same to the company against whom law. it is made, so as to afford them an opportunity of making such observations thereon as they may think fit. 8. WHERE any difference between railway companies or between canal companies, or between a railway company and a canal company, is, under the provisions of any general or special Act, passed either before or after the passing of this Act, required or authorised to be referred to arbitration, such difference shall at the instance of any company party to the difference and with the consent of the Commissioners be referred to the Commissioners for their decision in lieu of being referred to arbitration: Provided, that the power of compelling a reference to the Commissioners in this section contained shall not apply to any case in which any arbitrator has in any general or special Act been designated by his name or by the name of his office, or in which, a standing arbitrator having been appointed under any general or special Act, the Commissioners are of opinion that the difference in question may more conveniently be referred to him. Differences between railway and canal com panies to be Commissioners. referred to differences to Commissioners. 9. ANY difference to which a railway company or canal company is a party Power to refer may, on the application of the parties to the difference, and with the assent of the Commissioners, be referred to them for their decision. 10. THE following powers and duties of the Board of Trade shall be Transfer to transferred to the Commissioners; namely, (1.) The powers of the Board of Trade under Part III. of the Railway Clauses Act, 1863, or under any special Act, with respect to the approval of working agreements between railway companies; and, (2.) The powers and duties of the Board of Trade under section thirty-five of the Railway Clauses Act, 1863, with respect to the exercise by railway companies of their powers in relation to steam vessels: And the provisions of the said Acts conferring such powers or imposing such duties, or otherwise referring to such powers or duties, shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, be read as if the Commissioners were therein named instead of the Board of Trade. Explanation and Amendment of Law. 11. WHEREAS by section two of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1854, it is enacted that every railway company and canal company and railway and canal company shall, according to their respective powers, afford all reasonable facilities for the receiving and forwarding and delivering of traffic upon and from the several railways and canals belonging to or worked by such companies respectively, and for the return of carriages, trucks, boats, and other vehicles; and that no such company shall make or give any undue or unreasonable Commissioners of certain powers and Board of Trade. duties of the 26 & 27 Vict. c. 92. Explanation of 17 & 18 Vict. s. c. 31. 8. 2. as to through traffic. preference or advantage to or in favour of any particular person or company, or any particular description of traffic, in any respect whatsoever, or shall subject any particular person or company, or any particular description of traffic, to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever; and that every railway company and canal company and railway and canal company having or working railways or canals which form part of a continuous line of railway, or canal or railway and canal communication, or which have the terminus station or wharf of the one near the terminus station or wharf of the other, shall afford all due and reasonable facilities for receiving and forwarding by one of such railways or canals all the traffic arriving by the other, without any unreasonable delay, and without any such preference or advantage or prejudice or disadvantage as aforesaid, and so that no obstruction may be offered to the public desirous of using such railways or canals or railways and canals as a continuous line of communication, and so that all reasonable accommodation may by means of the railways and canals of the several companies be at all times afforded to the public in that behalf: And whereas it is expedient to explain and amend the said enactment: Be it therefore enacted, that Subject as herein-after mentioned, the said facilities to be so afforded are hereby declared to and shall include the due and reasonable receiving, forwarding, and delivering by every railway company and canal company and railway and canal company, at the request of any other such company, of through traffic to and from the railway or canal of any other such company at through rates, tolls, or fares (in this Act referred to as through rates). Provided as follows: (1.) The company requiring the traffic to be forwarded shall give written notice of the proposed through rate to each forwarding company, stating both its amount and its apportionment, and the route by which the traffic is proposed to be forwarded: (2.) Each forwarding company shall, within the prescribed period after the receipt of such notice, by written notice inform the company requiring the traffic to be forwarded whether they agree to the rate and route; and, if they object to either, the grounds of the objection : (3.) If at the expiration of the prescribed period no such objection has been sent by any forwarding company, the rate shall come into operation at such expiration: (4.) If an objection to the rate or route has been sent within the prescribed period, the matter shall be referred to the Commissioners for their decision: (5.) If an objection be made to the granting of the rate or to the route, the Commissioners shall consider whether the granting of the rate is a due and reasonable facility in the interest of the public, and whether, having regard to the circumstances, the route proposed is a reasonable route, and shall allow or refuse the rate accordingly : (6.) If the objection be only to the apportionment of the rate, the rate shall come into operation at the expiration of the prescribed period, but the decision of the Commissioners as to its apportionment shall be retrospective; in any other case the operation of the rate shall be suspended until the decision is given: (7.) The Commissioners in apportioning the through rate shall take into consideration all the circumstances of the case, including any special expense incurred in respect of the construction, maintenance, or working of the route, or any part of the route, as well as any special charges which any company may have been entitled to make in respect thereof: (8.) It shall not be lawful for the Commissioners in any case to compel any company to accept lower mileage rates than the mileage rates which such company may for the time being legally be charging for like traffic carried by a like mode of transit on any other line of communication between the same points, being the points of departure and arrival of the through route: (9.) The prescribed period mentioned in this section shall be ten days, or such longer period as the Commissioners may from time to time by general order prescribe : Where a railway company or canal company use, maintain, or work, or are party to an arrangement for using, maintaining, or working steam vessels for the purpose of carrying on a communication between any towns or ports, the provisions of this section shall extend to such steam vessels, and to the traffic carried thereby. 12. SUBJECT to the provisions in the last preceding section contained, the Commissioners shall have full power to decide that any proposed through rate is due and reasonable, notwithstanding that a less amount may be allotted to any forwarding company out of such through rate than the maximum rate such company is entitled to charge, and to allow and apportion such through rate accordingly. cases. 17 & 18 Vict. 13. A COMPLAINT of a contravention of section two of the Railway and Provision for Canal Traffic Act, 1854, as amended by this Act, may be made to the public authoCommissioners by a municipal or other public corporation, local or harbour rity in certain board, without proof that the complainants are aggrieved by the contravention. Provided that a complaint shall not be entertained by the Commissioners in c. 31. pursuance of this section unless such complaint is accompanied by a certificate of the Board of Trade to the effect that in their opinion the case in respect of which the complaint is made is a proper one to be submitted for adjudication. to the Commissioners by such municipal or other public corporation, local or harbour board. rates. 14. EVERY railway company and canal company shall keep at each of their Publication of stations and wharves a book or books showing every rate for the time being charged for the carriage of traffic, other than passengers and their luggage, from that station or wharf to any place to which they book, including any rates charged under any special contract, and stating the distance from that station or wharf of every station, wharf, siding, or place to which any such rate is charged. Every such book shall during all reasonable hours be open to the inspection of any person without the payment of any fee. The Commissioners may from time to time on the application of any person interested, make orders with respect to any particular description of traffic, requiring a railway company or canal company to distinguish in such book how much of each rate is for the conveyance of the traffic on the railway |