Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024

2 Future provision of services

(1) The Railways Act 1993 is amended as follows.

(2) In section 30 (duty of relevant franchising authority in absence of franchise)—

(a) in subsection (1)(b) omit from “but” to the end;

(b) for subsection (2) substitute—

“(1A) The relevant franchising authority may secure the provision of services for the purpose of fulfilling the duty under subsection (1) only by making a direct award of a public service contract to a public sector company in accordance with regulation 17 (general direct award provision for rail) of the 2023 Regulations.

(1B) Regulation 22 (pre-award publication) of the 2023 Regulations does not apply in relation to an award made as mentioned in subsection (1A).

(1C) The duty in subsection (1) does not apply in respect of services at any time when they are being provided under section 30A (temporary continuation of existing franchises).”;

(c) for the heading substitute “Public sector provision of services”.

(3) After that section insert—

“30A Temporary continuation of existing franchises

(1) This section applies where—

(a) the Secretary of State is the appropriate franchising authority in relation to a franchise agreement (“the existing agreement”), and

(b) the Secretary of State is satisfied that it will not be reasonably practicable to provide, or secure the provision of, the franchised services under section 30(1) when the existing agreement comes to an end.

(2) Where this section applies—

(a) the Secretary of State may enter into a new franchise agreement (“the new agreement”) for the provision of the services, or

(b) the franchise term in relation to the existing agreement may be extended.

(3) The Secretary of State may enter into the new agreement only if—

(a) the franchise term in relation to the new agreement is to begin immediately after the end of the franchise period in relation to the existing agreement, and

(b) the franchisee in relation to the new agreement is to be the same person as the franchisee in relation to the existing agreement.

(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations repeal this section and section 30B.

30B Agreements and extensions under section 30A

(1) A franchise agreement may be entered into under section 30A only by making a direct award of a public service contract in accordance with regulation 16 (emergency measures) of the 2023 Regulations.

(2) A franchise term may be extended under section 30A only by means of a formal agreement to extend such a contract in accordance with regulation 16 of the 2023 Regulations.

(3) For the purposes of this section the Secretary of State is to be treated as being entitled to take emergency measures under regulation 16 of the 2023 Regulations whether or not the requirements of paragraph (1) of that regulation are met.

30C Sections 30 to 30B: supplementary

(1) In sections 30 to 30B and this section—

(a) “direct award” and “public service contract” have the same meanings as in the 2023 Regulations (see regulation 2(1));

(b) “public sector company” means a company that is—

(i) wholly owned by the Secretary of State, the Welsh Ministers or the Scottish Ministers,

(ii) jointly owned by the Secretary of State and the Welsh Ministers, or

(iii) jointly owned by the Secretary of State and the Scottish Ministers;

(c) “the 2023 Regulations” means the Public Service Obligations in Transport Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1369).

(2) Subsections (4) and (5) of section 58 of the Railways Act 2005 (meaning of “wholly owned” and “jointly owned”) apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of that Act.”