Railways Act 1993

5 General duties of the Franchising Director

(1) It shall be the duty of the Franchising Director to exercise any functions assigned or transferred to him under or by virtue of this Act in the manner which he considers best calculated—

(a) to fulfil, in accordance with such instructions and guidance as may be given to him from time to time by the Secretary of State, any objectives given to him from time to time by the Secretary of State with respect to—

(i) the provision of services for the carriage of passengers by railway in Great Britain; or

(ii) the operation of additional railway assets under or by virtue of any franchise agreement or any provision of sections 30 and 37 to 49 below;

(b) to ensure that any payments to which this paragraph applies are such as he reasonably considers will achieve economically and efficiently any objectives given to him by the Secretary of State under paragraph (a) above.

(2) The payments to which paragraph (b) of subsection (1) above applies are—

(a) any payments which the Franchising Director may be required to make pursuant to a franchise agreement;

(b) any payments which the Franchising Director may make with a view to securing—

(i) the provision of any services, or

(ii) the operation of any network, station or light maintenance depot, or any part of a network, station or light maintenance depot,

in pursuance of any provision of sections 30, 37 to 42 and 52 below; and

(c) any payments which it falls to the Franchising Director to make to passenger service operators as mentioned in section 136(7) below.

(3) Where the Secretary of State gives the Franchising Director any objectives under subsection (1)(a) above, the Secretary of State shall—

(a) lay a copy of a statement of those objectives before each House of Parliament; and

(b) arrange for copies of that statement to be published in such manner as he may consider appropriate.