The Railways Infrastructure (Access, Management and Licensing of Railway Undertakings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

Principles of access charging

1.—(1) The infrastructure manager must ensure that the application of the charging scheme—

(a) complies with the rules set out in the Network Statement produced in accordance with regulation 10; and

(b) results in equivalent and non-discriminatory charges for different railway undertakings that perform services of an equivalent nature in a similar part of the market.

(2) The calculation of the fee may in particular take into account the mileage, composition of the train and any specific requirements in terms of such factors as speed, axle load and the degree or period of utilisation of the infrastructure.

(3) Except where specific arrangements are made in accordance with paragraph 3, the infrastructure manager must ensure that the charging scheme in use is based on the same principles over the whole of his network.

(4) The charges for the minimum access package and track access to service facilities referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 1 shall be set at the cost that is directly incurred as a result of operating the train service.

(5) Subject to sub-paragraph (6), the supply of services referred to in paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 shall not be subject to the principles set out in this paragraph.

(6) In setting the charge for the supply of services referred to in sub-paragraph (5), account must be taken of the competitive situation of rail transport.

(7) If the additional or ancillary services referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 of Schedule 1 are offered by only one supplier the charge imposed for the supply of those services must relate to the cost of providing the service, calculated on the basis of the actual level of use.

(8) The infrastructure charge may include a charge to reflect the scarcity of capacity of the identifiable segment of the infrastructure during periods of congestion.

(9) The charges referred to in sub-paragraph (8) may be averaged over a reasonable spread of train services and times, but the relevant magnitudes of the infrastructure charges must be related to the costs attributable to the services.