Railways Act 2005

40 Substitute road services

(1) Where a railway passenger service—

(a) is temporarily interrupted, or

(b) has been discontinued,

the appropriate national authority may secure the provision of a substitute service for the carriage of passengers by road by means of public service vehicles or private hire vehicles.

(2) Where a railway passenger service has been temporarily interrupted, the route and stopping places of the substitute service need not correspond precisely to those of the interrupted service if it is not practicable for them to do so.

(3) Where a railway passenger service has been discontinued, the route and stopping places of the substitute service need not correspond precisely to those of the discontinued service if—

(a) it is not practicable for them to do so; or

(b) the substitute service broadly corresponds to the discontinued service in terms of the localities served.

(4) For the purposes of this section the appropriate national authority is—

(a) in a case where the railway passenger service that is interrupted or discontinued is a service beginning or ending in England or otherwise making at least one scheduled call in England, the Secretary of State;

(b) in a case where that railway passenger service is a relevant Scottish passenger service, the Scottish Ministers;

(c) and in the case where that railway passenger service is a Wales-only service or is secured by the National Assembly for Wales, that Assembly;

and where in any case there is more than one appropriate national authority they shall each have the powers conferred by this section.

(5) In this section a “relevant Scottish passenger service” is—

(a) a railway passenger service provided under a Scottish franchise agreement; or

(b) a railway passenger service not falling within paragraph (a) which is a Scotland-only service or (without being such a service) is a service the provision of which is secured by the Scottish Ministers.

(6) In this section “private hire vehicles” means—

(a) vehicles licensed under section 37 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 (c. 89), section 6 of the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869 (c. 115), section 48 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (c. 57) or section 7 of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 (c. 34) or under any similar enactment; or

(b) taxis or private hire cars licensed under section 10 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (c. 45).

(7) In this section—

• “public service vehicles” has the meaning given by section 1 of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 (c. 14); and

• “stopping place”, in relation to a service, means a place at which a service makes a stop for the purposes of allowing passengers to join or leave the service.