First Previous (Railway Safety Act 2005) Next (PART 2 Railway Safety Commission)

31 2005

Railway Safety Act 2005

PART 1

Preliminary

Short title.

1. —This Act may be cited as the Railway Safety Act 2005 .

Interpretation.

2. —(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

“Commission” means the Railway Safety Commission established under section 8 ;

“Council” means the Railway Safety Advisory Council established under section 82 ;

“establishment day” means the day appointed by the Minister under section 7 to be the establishment day for the purposes of Part 2;

“functions” includes powers and duties and references to the performance of functions include, as respects powers and duties, references to the exercise of the powers and the carrying out of the duties;

“heritage railway” means a person who only operates train services or railway infrastructure of historical or touristic interest or such other person whom the Commission has by regulations under section 4 (6) specified to be a heritage railway;

“inspector” means a person appointed under section 73 to be an inspector;

“international service” means the operation of a railway service between the State and another state;

“intoxicant” includes alcohol and drugs and any combination of drugs or of drugs and alcohol;

“investigation report” means a report published by the Investigation Unit of an investigation undertaken by it;

“local authority” has the meaning assigned to it by the Local Government Act 2001 ;

“medical practitioner” means a person registered in the General Register of Medical Practitioners;

“Minister” means Minister for Transport;

“operation” in relation to a railway undertaking, includes the operation of railway services or the operation of railway infrastructure, or both, and any other ancillary activities;

“public road” means a road over which a public right of way exists and the responsibility for the maintenance of which lies on a road authority;

“qualified person” and “suitably qualified person” shall be construed in accordance with section 49 (18);

“railway” means—

(a) a railway which has a gauge of not less than 350 mm and which is used for the carrying of fare-paying passengers, or fee-paying members, or the conveyance of merchandise,

(b) any part of such other railway that has a physical interface with a railway mentioned in paragraph (a), or a physical interface with a public road, or

(c) any other infrastructure that may be specified by the Commission under section 4 ;

“railway incident” has the meaning assigned to it by section 51 ;

“railway infrastructure” means the fixed assets used for the operation of a railway including, but not limited to, rail track, railway stations, permanent way and plant used for signalling or exclusively for supplying electricity for operational purposes to the railway;

“railway property” has the meaning assigned to it by section 73 (15);

“railway undertaking” means—

(a) Iarnród Éireann—Irish Rail,

(b) a heritage railway, or

(c) any other person who operates a railway;

“record” means any memorandum, book, plan, map, drawing, diagram, pictorial or graphic work or other document, any photograph, film or recording (whether of sound or images or both), any form in which data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1988 ) are held, any other form (including machine-readable form) or thing in which information is held or stored manually, mechanically or electronically and any thing that is a part or a copy, in any form, of any of the foregoing or is a combination of two or more of the foregoing;

“reportable railway incident” means a railway incident that is required to be reported by a railway undertaking in accordance with section 52 ;

“road authority” means—

(a) in the case of a national road, the National Roads Authority, and

(b) in the case of a regional or local road, the city, county, borough or town council, in whose administrative area the road is located;

“rolling stock”, in relation to a railway, means any train or any other vehicle with flanged wheels which is designed to operate on a railway;

“safety case” shall be construed in accordance with section 39 ;

“train” means a vehicle with flanged wheels designed to operate on a railway for whatever purpose, and includes carriages and rolling stock.

(2) In this Act—

(a) a reference to a section, Part or Schedule is a reference to a section or Part of or Schedule to this Act unless it is indicated that a reference to some other enactment is intended,

(b) a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended, and

(c) a reference to an enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by any subsequent enactment including this Act.

Laying of orders and regulations.

3. —Every order other than an order under section 5 , 7, 38, 81, 84 or 92 or regulation (other than a regulation under section 97 (3)) made by the Minister or Commission under this Act shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be laid before each of the Houses of the Oireachtas and if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

Application.

4. —(1) This Act applies to all railway undertakings.

(2) Notwithstanding section 69 of the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001 , this Act applies to any railway works authorised by a railway order under section 43 of that Act.

(3) This Act does not apply to the operation of railway infrastructure solely for industrial use, except insofar as it has an interface with a public road or with a railway undertaking.

(4) This Act does not apply to fairground equipment which has been granted a valid certificate of safety in accordance with section 239 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 , unless, in the opinion of the Commission, it is appropriate to apply it in the interest of the safety of persons.

(5) The Commission may by regulations specify any other infrastructure to be a railway for the purposes of this Act where, in the opinion of the Commission, it is appropriate to do so in the interest of the safety of persons.

(6) The Commission may by regulations specify any person to be a heritage railway for the purposes of this Act where, in the opinion of the Commission, it is appropriate to do so in the interest of the safety of persons.

Repeals.

5. —(1) The enactments specified in column (2) of Schedule 1 are repealed to the extent specified in column (3) thereof.

(2) This section comes into operation on such day or days as the Minister may by order or orders appoint and different days may be so appointed for the application of this section to different enactments specified in Schedule 1 and to different provisions specified in that Schedule of those enactments.

Expenses.

6. —The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.