Consultation
9.The Act is largely technical in nature and its provisions have not been controversial. Discussions have been held with the railway operating company who will be directly affected by the legislation and who have welcomed the proposals and with heritage operators, who will also come within the scope of the legislation. Meetings have also been held with the Health and Safety Executive, in Northern Ireland and GB, as staff from HSE will be involved in enforcement, as agents of the Department for Regional Development. A more general consultation exercise was undertaken on the draft Bill and ended on 28th September 2001. Six hundred sets of papers were issued and twenty-seven responses were received. Of these twelve raised substantive points which were dealt with by correspondence. Additional provisions were added (Schedule 1) as a result of comments received.
