Conduct and accessibility on railways
Section 46: Bye-laws
156.Section 46 enables railway operators to make bye-laws, subject to confirmation by the Secretary of State and, where appropriate, the Scottish Ministers, to enable them and the police to control the conduct and behaviour of people using the railways. It also provides a mechanism governing the making of such bye-laws.
157.Subsection (1) defines the specific circumstances which the bye-laws can be made to regulate.
158.Subsection (2) lists some of the specific activities which the bye-laws may regulate including the issue of tickets, fare evasion, obstructing or interfering with the working of the railway, smoking, causing a nuisance, receipt and delivery of goods, and control of bicycles and other vehicles on footways.
159.Subsection (3) gives effect to Schedule 9, which provides the procedure for the making of bye-laws.
160.Subsection (4) ensures that existing bye-laws made by the Strategic Rail Authority continue to have effect until they are revoked.
161.Subsections (5) and (6) provide the Secretary of State with an order making power to revoke or amend bye-laws made by the Strategic Rail Authority and other bye-laws currently in force.
162.Subsection (7) defines the meaning of "railway operator" in the context of the power to make bye-laws under subsection (1).
163.Subsection (8) enables bye-laws to be applied to railway assets operated by a railway operator or rolling stock which a railway operator manages.
Section 47: Power of Scottish Ministers to make penalty fare regulations
164.Under the terms of Section 130 of the 1993 Act, as amended by the Transport Act 2000, provision is made for the making of regulations connected with the charging of penalty fares on the national rail network. The power to make regulations relating to the amount of a penalty fare is currently a power for the Secretary of State to exercise. Section 47 makes provision for the Scottish Ministers to also be empowered to make penalty fare regulations in relation to trains and stations used in connection with railway passenger services provided under Scottish franchise agreements, other Scotland-only services or services which have been secured by the Scottish Ministers. Regulations made by the Scottish Ministers will be subject to the negative resolution procedure in the Scottish Parliament (the equivalent procedure in Scotland to that which applies to regulations made by the Secretary of State under section 130 of the 1993 Act).
Section 48: Code of practice for disabled rail users in Scotland
165.Section 48 provides the Scottish Ministers with the power to prepare (and from time to time revise) a code of practice for protecting the interests of disabled persons in Scotland who are users of railway passenger services or station services. In preparing or revising the code, the Scottish Ministers are to consult the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee. Where the Scottish Ministers use this power to prepare a code of practice, they must publish the code (as revised from time to time) in such manner as they consider appropriate.
