The Secretary of State shall appoint persons as inspectors of rail accidents.

The Secretary of State shall appoint one of the inspectors as the Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents.

The inspectors appointed under this section may be referred to as the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (being a branch of the department of the Secretary of State who appoints them).

An inspector of rail accidents shall carry out such of the functions of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch as may be assigned to him by the Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents.