Railway Safety Act 2005

PART 1 Preliminary

1. Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Railway Safety Act 2005.

2. Interpretation.

2.—(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

F1[“accident”means an unwanted or unintended sudden event or a specific chain of such events which have harmful consequences; accidents are divided into the following categories: collisions, derailments, level-crossing accidents, accidents to persons caused by rolling stock in motion, fires and others;]

F2[…]

F1[“causes”means actions, omissions, events or conditions, or a combination thereof, which led to an accident or incident, and includes a direct and immediate cause of the accident or incident including contributory factors relating to actions taken by persons involved or condition of the rolling stock or technical installations, underlying causes relating to skills, procedures or maintenance and root causes relating to the regulatory framework conditions and application of the safety management system;]

F3[“Commission”means Commission for Railway Regulation;]

F2[…]

“Council” means the Railway Safety Advisory Council established under section 82;

F2[…]

“establishment day” means the day appointed by the Minister under section 7 to be the establishment day for the purposes of Part 2;

F2[…]

F2[…]

F1[“extensive damage”means damage that can immediately be assessed by the Investigation Unit to cost at least€2 million in total;]

“functions” includes powers and duties and references to the performance of functions include, as respects powers and duties, references to the exercise of the powers and the carrying out of the duties;

“heritage railway” means a person who only operates train services or railway infrastructure of historical or touristic interest or such other person whom the Commission has by regulations under section 4(6) specified to be a heritage railway;

F1[“incident”means any occurrence, other than an accident or serious accident, associated with the operation of trains and affecting the safety of operation;]

“inspector” means a person appointed under section 73 to be an inspector;

“international service” means the operation of a railway service between the State and another state;

“intoxicant” includes alcohol and drugs and any combination of drugs or of drugs and alcohol;

F1[“investigation”means a process conducted for the purpose of accident and incident prevention which includes the gathering and analysis of information, the drawing of conclusions, including the determination of causes and, when appropriate, the making of safety recommendations;]

“investigation report” means a report published by the Investigation Unit of an investigation undertaken by it;

F1[“investigation unit”means the Railway Accident Investigation Unit established under Regulation 4 of the Regulations of 2014;

“investigator”has the meaning assigned to it in the Regulations of 2014;]

“local authority” has the meaning assigned to it by the Local Government Act 2001;

“medical practitioner” means a person registered in the General Register of Medical Practitioners;

“Minister” means Minister for Transport;

“operation” in relation to a F4[railway organisation], includes the operation of railway services or the operation of railway infrastructure, or both, and any other ancillary activities;

“public road” means a road over which a public right of way exists and the responsibility for the maintenance of which lies on a road authority;

“qualified person” and “suitably qualified person” shall be construed in accordance with section 49(18);

“railway” means—

(a) a railway which has a gauge of not less than 350 mm and which is used for the carrying of fare-paying passengers, or fee-paying members, or the conveyance of merchandise,

(b) any part of such other railway that has a physical interface with a railway mentioned in paragraph (a), or a physical interface with a public road, or

(c) any other infrastructure that may be specified by the Commission under section 4;

F5[…]

“railway infrastructure” means the fixed assets used for the operation of a railway including, but not limited to, rail track, railway stations, permanent way and plant used for signalling or exclusively for supplying electricity for operational purposes to the railway;

F2[…]

“railway property” has the meaning assigned to it by section 73(15);

F6["railway organisation" means—

(a) an organisation with responsibility in operating:

(i) a metro, tram or other light railway system,

(ii) a heritage railway, museum railway or tourist railway that operates on its own network, including workshops, vehicles and staff,

(iii) a heritage railway that runs on the railway system in the State,

(b) a railway undertaking or an infrastructure manager to which the European Union (Railway Safety) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 476 of 2020) apply except in the case of sections 39, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 50 of this Act, or

(c) any other person who operates a railway;]

“record” means any memorandum, book, plan, map, drawing, diagram, pictorial or graphic work or other document, any photograph, film or recording (whether of sound or images or both), any form F7[…] (including machine-readable form) or thing in which information is held or stored manually, mechanically or electronically and any thing that is a part or a copy, in any form, of any of the foregoing or is a combination of two or more of the foregoing;

F1[“Regulations of 2014”means European Union (Railway Safety) (Reporting and Investigation of Serious Accidents, Accidents and Incidents) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 258 of 2014);

“Regulations of 2013”means European Union (Railway Safety) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 444 of 2013);

“Regulations of 2008”means European Union (Railway Safety) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No. 61 of 2008);]

F8[“reportable accident or incident”means a railway accident or incident that is required to be reported to the Investigation Unit and to the Commission in accordance with Regulation 7 of the Regulations of 2014.]

“road authority” means—

(a) in the case of a national road, the National Roads Authority, and

(b) in the case of a regional or local road, the city, county, borough or town council, in whose administrative area the road is located;

“rolling stock”, in relation to a railway, means any train or any other vehicle with flanged wheels which is designed to operate on a railway;

F9["safety management certificate" means a safety management certificate issued undersection 46(1)(a);]

“F10[safety management document]” shall be construed in accordance with section 39;

F1[“serious accident”means any train collision or derailment of trains, resulting in the death of at least one person or serious injuries to five or more persons or extensive damage to rolling stock, the infrastructure or the environment, and any other similar accident with an obvious impact on railway safety regulation or the management of safety;]

“train” means a vehicle with flanged wheels designed to operate on a railway for whatever purpose, and includes carriages and rolling stock.

F2[…]

(2) In this Act—

(a) a reference to a section, Part or Schedule is a reference to a section or Part of or Schedule to this Act unless it is indicated that a reference to some other enactment is intended,

(b) a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended, and

(c) a reference to an enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by any subsequent enactment including this Act.

F11[(3)F12[…]]

F13[(4) In this Act, a reference to accident is to be read as a reference to a serious accident when the investigation of a serious accident is being carried out.]

3. Laying of orders and regulations.

3.—Every order other than an order under section 5, 7, 38, 81, 84 or 92 or regulation (other than a regulation under section 97(3)) made by the Minister or Commission under this Act shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be laid before each of the Houses of the Oireachtas and if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

4. Application.

4.—(1) This Act applies to all F14[railway organisation]s.

(2) Notwithstanding section 69 of the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001, this Act applies to any railway works authorised by a railway order under section 43 of that Act.

(3) This Act does not apply to the operation of railway infrastructure solely for industrial use, except insofar as it has an interface with a public road or with a F14[railway organisation].

(4) This Act does not apply to fairground equipment which has been granted a valid certificate of safety in accordance with section 239 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, unless, in the opinion of the Commission, it is appropriate to apply it in the interest of the safety of persons.

(5) The Commission may by regulations specify any other infrastructure to be a railway for the purposes of this Act where, in the opinion of the Commission, it is appropriate to do so in the interest of the safety of persons.

(6) The Commission may by regulations specify any person to be a heritage railway for the purposes of this Act where, in the opinion of the Commission, it is appropriate to do so in the interest of the safety of persons.

5. Repeals.

5.—(1) The enactments specified in column (2) of Schedule 1 are repealed to the extent specified in column (3) thereof.

(2) This section comes into operation on such day or days as the Minister may by order or orders appoint and different days may be so appointed for the application of this section to different enactments specified in Schedule 1 and to different provisions specified in that Schedule of those enactments.

6. Expenses.

6.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

PART 2 Railway Safety Commission

7. Establishment day.

7.—The Minister may by order appoint a day to be the establishment day for the purposes of this Part.

8. Establishment of Railway Safety Commission.

8.—(1) There shall stand established, on the establishment day, a body to be known as, in the Irish language, An Coimisiún Sábháilteachta Iarnróid, or in the English language, the Railway Safety Commission, in this Act referred to as the “Commission”, to perform the functions assigned to it under this Act.

(2) The Commission shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and shall have a seal and power to sue and be sued in its corporate name and to acquire, hold and dispose of land or an interest in land, and to acquire, hold and dispose of any other property.

(3) The Commission shall have all such powers as are necessary for or incidental to the performance of its functions under this Act.

9. Independence of Commission.

9.—Subject to this Act, the Commission shall be independent in the exercise of its functions.

9A. F16[Commission to operate in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent manner.

9A.—F17[…]]

10. Functions of Commission.

10.—(1) The principal functions of the Commission shall be—

(a) to foster and encourage railway safety,

(b) to enforce this Act and any other legislation relating to railway safety, and

F18[(c) to investigate and report on railway accidents and incidents for the purposes of determining compliance with safety management systems and safety targets.]

(2) The Commission shall, in carrying out its functions, have regard to any matters arising from the operation of railways which may affect the safety of persons.

(3) The Commission, subject to the approval of the Minister given with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may—

(a) enter into agreements or make arrangements with any Minister of the Government, or any other person for that Minister or person to perform on behalf of the Commission (with or without payment) any of its functions; and

(b) enter into agreements or make arrangements with any Minister of the Government or the Health and Safety Authority for the Commission to perform on behalf of that Minister or that Authority (with or without payment) such functions as may appropriately be performed by it in connection with its functions under this Act.

(4) The Commission shall have all such powers as are necessary or expedient for the performance of its functions under subsection (3)(b).

(5) The Commission shall provide advice to the Minister as may be requested by the Minister from time to time in relation to railway safety.

(6) For the purposes of its functions, the Commission shall encourage and foster activities and measures which are directed towards the promotion of railway safety, including such arrangements as it considers appropriate to undertake, to promote, to sponsor, to evaluate and to publish the results of research, surveys and studies relating to railway safety.

10A. F19[Safety authority.

10A.—F20[…]]

11. Conferral of additional functions.

11.—(1) The Minister may, by order, made with the consent of the Minister for Finance, confer on the Commission such additional functions in relation to railway safety as, from time to time, he or she considers appropriate.

(2) The Minister or any other Minister of the Government with the consent of the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, by order provide that any function relating to railway safety conferred on him or her under any enactment (including this Act), shall, where the relevant Minister is satisfied that the function could be more conveniently performed by the Commission, in lieu of being performed by him or her, be performed by the Commission with effect from a date specified in the order.

(3) Whenever an order under subsection (2) is in force in relation to a particular function, a reference in any enactment concerned to the Minister or the Minister of the Government concerned, as the case may be, shall be construed as including a reference to the Commission and the function to which the order relates shall be the function of the Commission.

(4) An order under subsection (1) or (2) may contain such incidental, supplementary, consequential and transitional provisions as appear to the Minister or the relevant Minister of the Government, as the case may be, to be necessary for the purpose or in consequence of, or to give full effect to, the order.

(5) The Minister or another Minister of the Government who has made an order under subsection (2) may—

(a) where the order is made by the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, or

(b) where the order is made by another Minister of the Government, with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance,

amend or revoke the order that he or she has made.

12. Transfer of functions.

12.—(1) The administration and business in connection with the exercise, performance or execution of any of the functions transferred by subsection (2) are transferred, on the establishment day, to the Commission.

(2) The functions vested in the Minister by or under—

(a) the provisions of the enactments mentioned in Part 1 of Schedule 2, and

(b) the regulations mentioned in Part 2 of Schedule 2,

are, on the establishment day, transferred to the Commission.

(3) References to the Minister contained in any Act or instrument relating to any functions transferred by subsection (2) shall, on the establishment day, be construed as references to the Commission.

(4) Anything commenced before the establishment day by or under the authority of the Minister may, in so far as it relates to functions transferred by this section, be carried on or completed on or after such day by the Commission.

(5) Where, immediately before the establishment day, any legal proceedings are pending to which the Minister is the plaintiff or the prosecutor and the proceedings have reference to functions transferred by this section to the Commission, the name of the Commission shall, in so far as the proceedings relate to any functions transferred by this section, be substituted in those proceedings for that of the Minister or added in those proceedings as may be appropriate and those proceedings shall not abate by reason of such substitution.

(6) Where, immediately before the establishment day, any legal proceedings are pending to which the Minister is a defendant and the proceedings have reference to any functions transferred to the Commission by this section, the Commission shall not be substituted for the Minister in those proceedings notwithstanding the transfer of functions under this Act.

(7) Every document (including any certificate or licence) granted or made in the exercise of a function transferred by this section shall, if and in so far as it was operative immediately before the establishment day, have effect on and after that day as if it had been granted or made by the Commission.

13. Policy directions by Minister to Commission.

13.—(1) Subject to subsection (3), the Minister may, after consultation with the Minister for Finance, give such general policy directions in writing to the Commission in relation to its functions as he or she considers appropriate.

(2) The Commission shall comply with any direction given under subsection (1).

(3) The Minister shall not give directions under subsection (1) in relation to any particular case with which the Commission is or may be concerned.

(4) The Minister shall lay a copy of any direction given by him or her under subsection (1) before each House of the Oireachtas.

(5) The Minister may give policy or other guidelines to the Commission in relation to its functions as he or she considers appropriate and the Commission shall have regard to the guidelines when performing such functions.