Transport Act 1968

20 Special duty of certain Executives with respect to railway passenger services

(1) If in the case of any designated area the Minister considers that railway passenger services have a particularly important contribution to make to the provision of a properly integrated and efficient system of public passenger transport for that area, he may by order direct that this section shall apply to that area.

(2) Without prejudice to their general duty under section 9(3) of this Act, it shall be the special duty of the Executive for a designated area to which this section applies—

(a) to review as soon as may be, and subsequently keep under review, the railway passenger services provided by the Railways Board for meeting the needs of persons travelling between places in that area or between such places and places outside that area but within the permitted distance for the purposes of section 10(1)(ii) of this Act as it applies to that Executive ; and

(b) without prejudice to the general powers of the Executive under section 10 of this Act, to enter into such agreements with that Board as the Authority may approve for securing that the Board provide such railway passenger services as the Authority decide to be necessary to ensure that such services make a proper contribution towards the provision for that area of such a system of public passenger transport as is referred to in section 9(1) of this Act.

(3) The Railways Board shall furnish the Executive with any information which the Executive may reasonably require for the purposes of the discharge of their functions under subsection (2) of this section.

(4) Without prejudice to the general power of the Executive under section 10(1)(vi) of this Act, any agreement under this section may include provision for the making of payments by the Executive to the Railways Board in respect of the railway passenger services provided by the Board in pursuance of the agreement.

(5) Before entering into any agreement under this section, the Executive shall send a copy of the proposed agreement to the Minister; but a failure to comply with this subsection shall not affect the validity of the agreement.

(6) If any dispute arises between the Executive and the Railways Board in connection with the provisions of subsection (2) or (3) of this section, either of them may require the dispute to be referred to the Minister for determination, and any agreement under the said subsection (2) may include provision for any dispute in connection with the agreement to be so referred; and where any dispute is referred to the Minister under or by virtue of this subsection, then, subject to subsection (7) of this section, the Minister may give such directions to the Executive and the Board with respect to the dispute as he thinks fit.

(7) Before giving any directions under subsection (6) of this section to the Executive for a designated area in Scotland or Wales the Minister shall consult with the Secretary of State.

(8) The Minister may, with the approval of the Treasury and if in any particular case he considers it proper so to do, make grants to the Executive for any designated area to which this section applies towards any expenditure incurred by the Executive by reason of any agreement entered into under subsection (2)(b) of this section; but—

(a) such grants shall be made only in respect of a period falling within the first seven years (or such greater number of years as the Minister may with the approval of the Treasury by order prescribe) from the date fixed for the establishment of that Executive by order under section 9(1) of this Act or the date of the order under subsection (1) of this section applying this section to that designated area, whichever is the later; and

(b) in the case of any of those years after the first, the percentage of the aggregate amount of any expenditure incurred as aforesaid in that year represented by any grant in respect of that year shall be less than it was or would have been in the case of the last preceding of those years.