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BRITISH RAILWAY
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See also:BRITISH RAILWAY LEGISLATION The first thing a railway See also:company in See also:Great See also:Britain has to do is to obtain a See also:special or private See also:act of See also:parliament authorizing the construction of the See also:line. Not that the See also:mere laying or working of a railway requires See also:parliamentary See also:sanction, , tlon. so See also:long as the See also:work does not interfere with other See also:people's rights and interests. An example of a railway built without any legislative authority is the little See also:mountain railway from See also:Llanberis to the See also:summit of See also:Snowdon, which was made by the owner of the See also:land through which it passes. Such a railway has no statutory rights and no special obligations, and the owner of it is liable to be sued for creating a See also:nuisance if the working of the line interferes with the comfort of those residing in the neighbourhood. When, however, a company desires to construct a line on a commercial See also:scale, to acquire land compulsorily, to divert See also:rivers and streams, to See also:cross roads either on the level or by means of See also:bridges, to pass near houses, to build tunnels or viaducts, and to execute all the other See also:works incidental to a railway, and to work the line when completed without interference, it is essential that the authority of parliament should be obtained. The company therefore promotes a See also:bill, which is considered first by select committees of the two houses of parliament, and afterwards by the two houses themselves, during which See also:period it faces the opposition, if any, of See also:rival concerns, of See also:local authorities and of hostile landowners. If this is successfully overcome, and the proposals meet with the approval of parliament, the bill is passed and, after securing the Royal Assent, becomes an act of parliament. The company is then See also:free to proceed with the work of construction, and at once becomes subject to various See also:general acts, such as the Companies Clauses Act, which affects all See also:joint-stock companies incorporated by any special act; the Land Clauses Act, which has reference to all companies having See also:powers to acquire land compulsorily; the Railway Clauses Act, which imposes certain conditions on all See also:railways alike (except See also:light railways); the various Regulation of Railways Acts; the See also:Carriers See also:Protection Act; acts for the See also:conveyance of mails, parcels, troops; acts See also:relating to telegraphs, to the conveyance of workmen and to the See also:housing of the labouring classes; and several others which it is unnecessary to specify. From the See also:early days of railways parliament has also been careful to provide for the safety of the public by inserting in the general or special acts definite conditions, and by laying upon the See also:Board of See also:Trade the See also:duty of protecting the public using a railway. The first act which has reference to the safety of passengers is the Regulation of Railways Act of 1842, which obliges every railway company to give See also:notice to the Board of Trade -°speo- of its intention to open the railway for passenger See also:don. See also:traffic, and places upon that public See also:department the duty of inspecting the line before the opening of it takes See also:place. If the officer appointed by the Board of Trade should, after inspection of the railway, See also:report to the department that in his See also:opinion " the opening of the same would be attended with danger to the public using the same, by See also:reason of the incompleteness of the works or permanent way, or the insufficiency' of the See also:establishment for working such railway," it is lawful for the department to See also:direct the company to postpone the opening of the line for any period not exceeding one See also:month at a See also:time, the See also:process being repeated from month to month as often as may be necessary. The company is liable to a See also:fine of twenty pounds a See also:day if it should open the line in contravention of such See also:order or direction. The inspections made by the See also:officers of the Board of Trade under this act are very See also:complete: the permanent way, bridges, viaducts, tunnels and other works are carefully examined; all See also:iron or See also:steel girders are tested; stations, including platforms, stairways, waiting-rooms, &c., are inspected; and the signalling and " interlocking " are thoroughly overhauled. A See also:code of requirements in regard to the opening of new railways has been See also:drawn up by the department fo'r the guidance of railway companies, and as the special circumstances of each line are considered on their merits, it rarely happens that the department finds it necessary to prohibit the opening of a new railway. The Regulation of Railways Act of 1871 extends the provisions of the above act to the opening of " any additional line of railway, deviation line, station, junction or See also:crossing on the level " which forms a portion of or is connected with a passenger railway, and which has been constructed subsequently to the inspection of it. This act further defines the duties and powers of the inspectors of the Board of Trade, and also authorizes the Board to dispense with the notice which the previous act requires to be given See also:prior to the opening of a railway. It may be remarked that neither of these acts confers on the Board of Trade any See also:power to inspect a railway after it has once been opened, unless and until some addition or alteration, such as is defined in the last-named act, has been made. When a line has once been inspected and passed, it lies with the company to maintain it in accordance with the See also:standard of efficiency it originally possessed, but no See also:express statutory See also:obligation to do so is imposed upon the company, and whether it does so or not, the Board of Trade cannot interfere. The act of 1871 further renders it obligatory upon every railway company to send notice to the Board of Trade in the inquiries See also:case of (I) any See also:accident attended with loss of See also:life or into See also:ace]- See also:personal injury to any See also:person whatsoever; (2) any dents. collision where one of the trains is a passenger See also:train; (3) any passenger train or See also:part of such train leaving the rails; (4) any other accident likely to have caused loss of life or personal injury, and specified on that ground by any order made from time to time by the Board of Trade. The department is authorized, on See also:receipt of such report, to direct an inquiry to be made into the cause of any accident so reported, and the inspector appointed to make the inquiry is given power to enter any railway premises for the purposes of his inquiry, and to summon any person engaged upon the railway to attend the inquiry as a See also:witness, and to require the See also:production of all books, papers and documents which he considers important for the purpose. The inspector, after making his investigation, is required to make a report to the Board of Trade as to the causes of the accident and the circumstances attending the same, with any observations on the subject which he See also:deems right, and the Board " shall cause every such report to be made public in such manner as they think expedient." The usual mode of See also:publishing such reports is to forward them to railway companies concerned, as well as to the See also:press, and on application to any one else who is interested. The reports are subsequently included in a See also:Blue-See also:book and presented to parliament. It should be noted that although the inspecting officer may in his report make any recommendations that he may think See also:fit with a view to guarding against any similar accident occurring in the future, no power is given to the Board of Trade, or to any other authority, to compel any railway company to adopt such recommendations. This omission is sometimes held to be an See also:error, but as a fact it is an See also:advantage. The moral effect of the report, with the criticisms of the company's methods and recommendations appended thereto, is great, and it rarely happens that a company refuses to adopt, or at any See also:rate to test, the recommendations so made. If, on the other See also:hand, the company is of opinion that the suggestions of the inspecting officer are not likely to prove beneficial, or are for any reason unadvisable, it is at See also:liberty to reject them, the responsibility of doing so resting entirely upon itself. The effect of this See also:latitude is to give the company ample discretion in the See also:matter, and to enable the act to be administered and the See also:object of it to be attained without undue interference. In 1889 a very important act was passed placing upon the Board of Trade the obligation to See also:call upon railway companies throughout the See also:United See also:Kingdom (I) to adopt upon Working, all passenger lines the " See also:block " See also:system of working; (2) to " interlock " their points and signals; (3) to fit all trains carrying passengers with some See also:form of automatic continuous See also:brake. Prior to this some companies had, to a certain extent, done these things, but few, if any, were completely equipped in these respects. A reasonable period was afforded them, according to circumstances, to comply with these requirements, and at the See also:present time the work is practically complete. In this respect the lines of the United Kingdom are far ahead of those of any other See also:country, and a diminution of accidents, particularly of collisions, has resulted therefrom. See also:America is now following the See also:lead thus set, and all the most important lines in the United States have adopted block working and interlocking, but a great See also:deal still remains to be done. In certain respects, on the other hand, America has gone further than the United Kingdom, especially in the matter of automatic signalling, and in the operating of points and signals by See also:electrical power or See also:air-pressure instead of See also:manual labour. In America, also, See also:freight trains are fitted with an automatic continuous brake, whereas in the United Kingdom this appliance is required by See also:law only in the case of passenger trains, and in fact is not fitted to goods and See also:mineral trains except in a few isolated instances. The above-named acts enable the Board of Trade to take all the necessary steps to ensure that the safety of passenger trains is sufficiently guarded. More recently legislation has yours of been passed to safeguard the lives and interests of Labour. railway servants. In 1893 an act was passed by parliament giving the Board power to interfere if or when representations are made to them by or on behalf of any servant or class of servants of a railway company that the See also:hours of work are unduly long, or do not provide sufficient intervals of uninterrupted See also:rest between the periods of duty, or sufficient See also:relief in respect of See also:Sunday duty. In such cases the company concerned may, after inquiry, be called upon to submit such a See also:schedule of the hours during which the See also:man or men are employed as will bring those hours within limits which appear to the department reasonable. In the event of the company failing to comply with the demands of the department, the latter is empowered to refer the case to the Railway and See also:Canal Commissioners, who form a special See also:Court constituted by the Railway and Canal Traffic Act of 1888, for deciding, among other things, questions relating to rates and charges, for protecting traders from undue charges and undue preference, for regulating questions of traffic, and for deciding certain disputes between railway companies and the public. The Commissioners are then empowered to deal with the matter, and if " a railway company fail to comply with any order made by the Railway and Canal Commissioners, or to enforce the provisions of any schedule " approved by them, it is liable to a fine of a See also:hundred pounds for every day during which the See also:default continues. This act has been the means of effecting a considerable reduction in the hours worked by railway men on certain See also:rail-ways, and no case has yet arisen in which a reference to the Commissioners has been necessary. Such modifications of the hours of work have not only been beneficial to the men, but have improved the discipline of the See also:staff and the punctuality and regularity of the train service, particularly in respect of the goods trains. The Notice of Accidents Act of 1884, which obliges employers of labour to report to the Board of Trade, when "there occurs in any employment " as defined by the schedule of the act, " any accident which causes to any person employed therein, either loss of life or such bodily injury as to prevent him on any one of the three working days next after the occurrence of the accident from being employed for five hours on his See also:ordinary work," affects railways in course of construction, but not, as a See also:rule, otherwise. Although the See also:administration of the above-mentioned acts of parliament has had a beneficial effect upon the safety of the public, and has enabled an enormous See also:volume of traffic Safety Serve to be handled with celerity, punctuality and See also:absence of See also:risk, it has during See also:recent years come to notice that the number of casualties among railway servants is still unduly great, and in 1899 a Royal See also:Commission was appointed to investigate the causes of the numerous accidents, fatal and non-fatal, to railway men. As a consequence of the report of this Commission the Railway Employment (Prevention of Accidents) Act of 1900 was passed, putting upon the Board of Trade the duty of making " such rules as they think fit with respect to any of the subjects mentioned in the schedule to this act, with the object of reducing or removing the dangers and risks incidental to railway service." Rules may also be made in respect to other matters besides those mentioned in the schedule, and companies may be called upon to adopt or reject, as the case may be, any appliance, the use or disuse of which may be considered desirable in the See also:interest of the men. Before, however, the rules so made become binding upon the companies, the latter have the right of appealing against them to the Railway Commissioners. Failure to comply with any of the rules renders a company " liable for each offence, on conviction under the See also:Summary See also:Jurisdiction Acts, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or in the case of a continuing offence to a fine not exceeding ten pounds for every day during which the offence continues after conviction." Rules drafted by the Board of Trade under this act came into force on the 8th of See also:August 1902, the subjects referred to being (I) labelling of wagons; (2) movements of wagons by propping and See also:tow-roping; (3) power-brakes on engines; (4) See also:lighting of stations and sidings; (5) protection of points, rods, &c.; (6) construction and protection of See also:gauge-glasses; (7) arrangement of See also:tool-boxes, &c., on engines; (8) See also:provision of brake-vans for trains upon See also:running lines beyond the limits of stations; (9) protection to permanent-way men when relaying or repairing permanent way. The final See also:settlement of a rule requiring brake-levers to be fitted on both sides of goods-wagons was, however, deferred, owing to objections raised by certain of the railway companies. Other acts which are of importance in connexion withaccidents are the Accidents See also:Compensation Act of 1846, the Employers' Liability Act of 188o, and the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1897. The public acts of parliament referring to British railways are collected in Bigg's General Railway Acts. (H. A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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