(1)With a view to securing and promoting the public safety, or the interests of the public, or of trade, or of any particular locality, the Railway and Canal Commission may, on the application of any body of persons representing any such interests, by order require any railway company or companies, or the Minister may, on the application of any such company or companies, by order authorise the company or companies, to afford such reasonable railway services, facilities, and conveniences upon and in connection with its undertaking or their undertakings (including the provision of such minor alterations and extensions and improvements of existing works as will not involve in any one case an expenditure exceeding one hundred thousand pounds) as" may be specified in the order:
Provided that, if on any such application a company satisfies the Railway and Canal Commission that under all the circumstances the capital required for the purpose cannot be provided or expended as proposed without prejudicially affecting the interests of the then existing stockholders, the order shall not be made :
Provided further that the powers under this subsection shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other existing powers of requiring measures for securing the safety of the public or the provision of reasonable facilities.
(2)The Minister may, after such reference as is hereinafter mentioned, by order require or authorise any railway company or any two or more railway companies on such terms and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order—
(a)to Conform gradually to measures of general standardisation of ways, plant and equipment (including methods of electrical operation, type, frequency, and pressure of current) ;
(b)to adopt schemes for the co-operative working or common user of rolling stock, workshops, manufactories, plant and other facilities :
Provided that—
(i)it shall not be necessary to make such a reference as aforesaid if the company or all the companies affected by the order consent thereto; and
(ii)if on any such application to enforce the order as is hereinafter mentioned any company satisfies the Railway and Canal Commission that the order is such that the capital expenditure involved cannot be provided or expended without prejudicially affecting the interests of the then existing stockholders, the order shall not be enforceable as against that company.
(3)Before making any order under the last foregoing subsection the Minister shall (except as hereinbefore provided) refer the draft order to a committee consisting of a representative of each of the amalgamated companies (each of which companies shall, on being so required by the Minister, nominate a representative), and three persons of experience in the subject-matter of the proposed order selected by the Minister from the panel set up under section twenty-three of the Ministry of Transport Act, 1919, as extended by this Act, and the committee before reporting or advising shall, if they see fit, give public notice and permit any persons affected or likely to be affected and any authority or body of persons authorised to make applications under this Act to place their views before them, either in writing or orally.
(4)Any order of the Minister under this section shall be complied with by any railway company to which the order relates, and in the event of non-compliance shall (subject as hereinbefore provided) be enforceable by order of the Railway and Canal Commission on the application of the Minister in any of the ways referred to in section three of the [17 & 18 Vict. c. 31.] Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1854, or section six of the [36 & 37 Vict. c. 48.] Regulation of Railways Act, 1873.
For enabling railway companies to effect alterations, extensions, and improvements of existing works in pursuance of an order of the Railway and Canal Commission or the Minister under this Part of this Act, the Minister may make any such order authorising the acquisition of land or easements and the construction of works as could have been made under paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section three of the Ministry of Transport Act, 1919, for the purposes specified in that paragraph, and that paragraph and section twenty-nine of the same Act, other than the proviso to subsection (3) of that section and the rules made under that section, and the regulations contained in the Second Schedule to the same Act shall, so far as they relate to railways, apply accordingly.
Where an agreement has been or may hereafter be entered into for the purchase, lease, or working by one railway company of any part of the system of another railway company, the Minister may, by order, confirm the agreement, and where any such agreement has been so confirmed it shall be lawful for the companies to carry the agreement into effect:
Provided that, before confirming any such agreement, the Minister shall comply with the provisions of section twenty-nine of, and the Second Schedule to, the Ministry of Transport Act, 1919, including any rules made under the said section; and the said section, schedule, and rules shall apply to the confirmation of any such agreement in like manner as they apply to the making of an order under paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section three of the said Act.
(1)Save as in this Act expressly provided, nothing in this Act shall prejudice or affect the rights or liabilities of any constituent or subsidiary company under any Act or agreement or arrangement (whether made under statutory powers or otherwise) in existence at the passing of this Act, but from and after the passing of this Act it shall not be lawful for any constituent or subsidiary company or for any amalgamated company without the consent of the Minister to enter into agreements with any constituent or subsidiary company in another group or with any other amalgamated company, as the case may be, for the allocation of traffic or the pooling of receipts or otherwise for effecting a combination which would contravene the purposes of this Act:
Provided that it shall be lawful for any two or more amalgamated companies to make and carry into effect, with the consent of the Minister, agreements for the joint working of the undertakings of subsidiary companies acquired by one of such amalgamated companies under the provisions of this Act.
(2)Before giving his consent under this section the Minister shall, unless it appears to him that the matter is one of such small importance that it is unnecessary to do so, refer the matter for consideration and report to a committee selected from the panel set up under section twenty-three of the Ministry of Transport Act, 1919, as extended by this Act.
(3)Schedules of all agreements and arrangements in existence at the passing of this Act (whether made under statutory powers or otherwise) in which provision is made for the allocation of traffic or the pooling of receipts therefrom on any railways which will become railways of different amalgamated companies, giving particulars of the dates of such agreements or arrangements, and the parties thereto, shall, on request by the Minister, be furnished to him and such further particulars as the Minister may require in regard to such agreements or arrangements shall be furnished to him by the companies affected thereby if and when demanded.