The Railways Act 1993 (Consequential Modifications) (No. 2) Order 1999

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order modifies certain statutory provisions in the British Transport Commission Act 1949 (“the 1949 Act”) and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (“the 1984 Act”) in consequence of the provisions of the Railways Act 1993 and instruments made under or by virtue of that Act.

The modifications to sections 54 to 57 of the 1949 Act confirm the powers of police constables to search and arrest persons employed by, or upon the property of successors of the British Railways Board (“the Board”) in certain circumstances and confirm–

(a) that it is an offence for a person to trespass on, or in dangerous proximity to, railways owned, leased or worked by a successor of the Board.

(b) that it is an offence for a person to throw stones at trains on any railway or siding which is owned, leased or worked by a successor of the Board, and

(c) that no right of way can be acquired by user over an access or approach to any station, goods-yard or depot of a successor of the Board.

Successors of the Board are essentially, operators of the Board’s former rail network and operators of railway stations and maintenance and goods and service depots used in connection with that network.

The amendment to the 1984 Act provides that a constable employed by the British Railways Board may stop, detain and search any vehicle before it leaves a goods area included in the premises of any successor of the British Railways Board which is used wholly or mainly for its railway operations.