25Award of Crossrail franchises to public-sector operatorsU.K.
(1)Section 25 of the Railways Act 1993 (c. 43) (public-sector operators not to be franchisees) does not apply in relation to the franchisee in respect of a franchise agreement—
(a)which relates wholly or mainly to the provision of one or more Crossrail passenger services, or
(b)which relates wholly or mainly to the provision of one or more other services for the carriage of passengers by railway where—
(i)the services run wholly or partly on the route of Crossrail, and
(ii)the services are likely to be subject to substantial disruption because of the construction of Crossrail.
(2)The following may in particular be taken into account in determining whether, for the purposes of subsection (1)(b), services are likely to be subject to substantial disruption—
(a)the frequency with which the services are likely to be disrupted;
(b)the duration of the period in which the services are likely to be disrupted (and, in particular, its duration relative to the length of the franchise term);
(c)the severity of any likely disruption.
(3)In this section—
“Crossrail passenger service” has the meaning given by section 23(4);
“franchisee”, “franchise agreement” and “franchise term” have the meanings given by section 23 of the Railways Act 1993 (designated passenger services to be provided under franchise agreements).