Railways Act 1993

4 General duties of the Secretary of State and the Regulator. E+W+S

(1) The [F1 Regulator shall] have a duty to exercise the functions assigned or transferred to him under or by virtue of this Part in the manner which he considers best calculated—

[F2 (za) to facilitate the furtherance by the Authority of any strategies which it has formulated with respect to its purposes2;]

(a) to protect the interests of users of railway services;

(b) to promote the use of the railway network in Great Britain for the carriage of passengers and goods, and the development of that railway network, to the greatest extent that he considers economically practicable;

[F3 (ba) to contribute to the development of an integrated system of transport of passengers and goods;

(bb) to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development;]

(c) to promote efficiency and economy on the part of persons providing railway services;

(d) to promote competition in the provision of railway services [F4 for the benefit of users of railway services];

(e) to promote measures designed to facilitate the making by passengers of journeys which involve use of the services of more than one passenger service operator;

(f) to impose on the operators of railway services the minimum restrictions which are consistent with the performance of his functions under this Part;

(g) to enable persons providing railway services to plan the future of their businesses with a reasonable degree of assurance.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1)(a) above, the [F5 Regulator shall] have a duty, in particular, to exercise the functions assigned or transferred to him under or by virtue of this Part in the manner which he considers is best calculated to protect—

(a) the interests of users and potential users of services for the carriage of passengers by railway provided by a private sector operator otherwise than under a franchise agreement, in respect of—

(i) the prices charged for travel by means of those services, and

(ii) the quality of the service provided,

in cases where the circumstances appear to F6 . . . the Regulator to be such as to give rise, or be likely to give rise, to a monopoly situation in the passenger transport market; and

(b) the interests of persons providing services for the carriage of passengers or goods by railway in their use of any railway facilities which are for the time being vested in a private sector operator, in respect of—

(i) the prices charged for such use; and

(ii) the quality of the service provided.

(3) The [F7 Regulator shall] be under a duty in exercising the functions assigned or transferred to him under or by virtue of this Part—

(a) to take into account the need to protect all persons from dangers arising from the operation of railways, taking into account, in particular, any advice given to him in that behalf by the Health and Safety Executive; and

(b) to have regard to the effect on the environment of activities connected with the provision of railway services.

[F8 (3A) Subsections (1) to (3) above shall have effect in relation to the Secretary of State as in relation to the Regulator, except that in their application to the Secretary of State—

(a) paragraph (za) of subsection (1) above shall be disregarded; and

(b) the references in each of the subsections to the functions transferred or assigned to the Secretary of State under or by virtue of this Part include only the functions transferred or assigned to him under or by virtue of sections 6 to 22 and 37 to 50 below.]

(4) The Secretary of State shall also be under a duty, in exercising the functions assigned or transferred to him under or by virtue of this Part, to promote the award of franchise agreements to companies in which qualifying railway employees have a substantial interest, “qualifying railway employees” meaning for this purpose persons who are or have been employed in an undertaking which provides or provided the services to which the franchise agreement in question relates at a time before those services begin to be provided under that franchise agreement.

(5) The Regulator shall also be under a duty in exercising the functions assigned or transferred to him under this Part—

[F9 (a) to have regard to any general guidance given to him by the Secretary of State about railway services or other matters relating to railways;]

(b) to act in a manner which he considers will not render it unduly difficult for persons who are holders of network licences to finance any activities or proposed activities of theirs in relation to which the Regulator has functions under or by virtue of this Part (whether or not the activities in question are, or are to be, carried on by those persons in their capacity as holders of such licences); F10 . . .

(c) to have regard to the financial position of the [F11 Authority in discharging its] functions under this Part [F12 ; and]

[F13 (d) to have regard to the ability of the Mayor of London, London Regional Transport and Transport for London to carry out the functions conferred or imposed on them by or under any enactment]

(6) In performing his duty under subsection (1)(a) above so far as relating to services for the carriage of passengers by railway or to station services, the Regulator shall have regard, in particular, to the interests of persons who are disabled.

(7) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (e) of subsection (1) above, any arrangements for the issue and use of through tickets shall be regarded as a measure falling within that paragraph.

[F14 (7ZA) Any general guidance given by the Secretary of State to the Regulator about railway services or other matters relating to railways—

(a) shall be published by the Secretary of State in such manner as he considers appropriate; and

(b) may be varied or revoked.]

[F15 (7A) Subsections (1) to (6) above do not apply in relation to anything done by the Regulator in the exercise of functions assigned to him by section 67(3) below (“Competition Act functions”).

(7B) The Regulator may nevertheless, when exercising any Competition Act function, have regard to any matter in respect of which a duty is imposed by any of subsections (1) to (6) above, if it is a matter to which [F16 the Office of Fair Trading] could have regard when exercising that function.]

(8) For the purposes of this section, “monopoly situation” has the same meaning as it has in the M1 Fair Trading Act 1973 (in this Part referred to as “the 1973 Act”), except that in relation to the passenger transport market—

(a) the expression includes a monopoly situation which is limited to the passenger transport market in some part of the United Kingdom; and

(b) in the application of section 7 of the 1973 Act (monopoly situation in relation to the supply of services) for the purposes of paragraph (a) above, references in that section to the United Kingdom shall accordingly be taken to include references to a part of the United Kingdom.

(9) In this section—

• [F17 “ the environment” means all , or any, of the following media, namely , the air, water and land (and the medium of air includes the air within buildings and the air within other natural or man-made structures above or below ground);]

• “the passenger transport market” means the market for the supply of services for the carriage of passengers, whether by railway or any other means of transport;

• F18 . . .

  (a)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  (b)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 4(1) substituted (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 224(2)(a); S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F2 S. 4(1)(za) inserted (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 224(2)(b); S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F3 S. 4(1)(ba)(bb) inserted (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 224(2)(c); S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F4 Words in s. 4(1)(d) inserted (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 224(2)(d); S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F5 Words in s. 4(2) substituted (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 224(3)(a); S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F6 Words in s. 4(2) repealed (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, ss. 224(3)(b), 274, Sch. 31 Pt. IV; S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F7 Words in s. 4(3) substituted (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 224(4); S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F8 S. 4(3A) inserted (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 224(5); S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F9 S. 4(5)(a) substituted (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 224(6); S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F10 Word in s. 4(5) omitted (3.7.2000) by virtue of 1999 c. 29, s. 200(4) (with Sch. 12 para. 9(1)); S.I. 2000/801, art. 2(c), Sch.

F11 Words in s. 4(5)(c) substituted (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 215, Sch. 16 para. 9; S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F12 S. 4(5)(d) and preceding word inserted (3.7.2000) by Greater London Authority Act 1999 (c. 29), ss. 200, 425(2)(3) (with Sch. 12 para. 9(1); S.I. 2000/801, art. 2(c), Sch.

F13 S. 4(5)(d) and preceding word inserted (3.7.2000) by Greater London Authority Act 1999 (c. 29), ss. 200, 425(2)(3) (with Sch. 12 para. 9(1)); S.I. 2000/801, art. 2(c), Sch.

F14 S. 4(7ZA) inserted (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 224(7); S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

F15 S. 4(7A)(7B) inserted (1.3.2000) by 1998 c. 41, ss. 9(3), 66(5), Sch. 10 Pt. II para. 6(3) (with s. 73); S.I. 2000/344, art. 2, Sch.

F16 Words in s. 4(7B) substituted (1.4.2003) by 2002 c. 40, ss. 278, 279, Sch. 25 para. 30(2)(b); S.I. 2003/766, art. 2, Sch. (with art. 3)

F17 S. 4(9): definition of “the environment" substituted (14.12.1999) by 1999 c. 24, s. 6, Sch. 2 para. 12; S.I. 1999/3376, art. 2

F18 S. 4(9): definition of "through ticket" repealed (1.2.2001) by 2000 c. 38, s. 274, Sch. 31 Pt. IV; S.I. 2001/57, art. 3(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I (subject to savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. II)

Commencement Information

I1 S. 4 wholly in force at 21.3.1994; s. 4 not in force at Royal Assent see s. 154(2); s. 4(1)(3)(7)(9) in force for specified purposes at 24.12.1993 by S.I. 1993/3237, art. 2(1); s. 4(1)-(3)(5)(6) in force for specified purposes at 22.2.1994 by S.I. 1994/447, art. 2 and in force at 21.3.1994 insofar as not already in force by S.I. 1994/571, art. 3

Marginal Citations

M1 1973 c. 41.