Railways Act 1993

Consultative committees

2(1)Until such time as the Regulator otherwise directs—

(a)there shall be the same number of consultative committees as there are Area Committees immediately before the coming into force of section 2 of this Act; and

(b)there shall be a consultative committee for each area for which, immediately before the coming into force of that section, there is an Area Committee.

(2)Unless the Regulator otherwise directs, any person who, immediately before the coming into force of section 2 of this Act, is the chairman or one of the other members of an Area Committee for any area shall, for the remainder of the period for which he was appointed as such, be the chairman or, as the case may be, one of the other members of the consultative committee for that area.

(3)Any reference or representation—

(a)which was made under section 56(4)(a) or (b) of the 1962 Act to an Area Committee for any area,

(b)which relates to a matter which is within the competence of the consultative committee for that area, and

(c)which has not been disposed of by the Area Committee before the coming into force of section 2 of this Act,

shall be treated as a reference or representation made to the consultative committee pursuant to paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2) of section 77 of this Act for the purposes of subsection (1) of that section.

(4)Any matter—

(a)which was under consideration by an Area Committee for any area pursuant to section 56(4)(c) of the 1962 Act,

(b)which is within the competence of the consultative committee for that area, and

(c)which has not been disposed of by the Area Committee before the coming into force of section 2 of this Act,

shall be treated as a matter which ought to be considered by the consultative committee under subsection (1) of section 77 of this Act by virtue of subsection (2)(c) of that section.

(5)It shall be the duty of the Area Committee for any area to secure that all papers and other material relating to any representation, reference or matter falling within sub-paragraph (3) or (4) above are delivered up to the consultative committee for that area as soon as reasonably practicable after the coming into force of section 2 of this Act.

(6)In any case where—

(a)any recommendation made under section 56(4) of the 1962 Act by an Area Committee has been received by the Secretary of State before the coming into force of section 2 of this Act, but

(b)the Secretary of State has not disposed of that recommendation before the coming into force of that section,

he may, before the expiration of the period of twelve months beginning with the coming into force of that section, give a direction to any person providing a railway service whom he considers responsible for the matters dealt with in the recommendation.

(7)As respects the financial year at the beginning of which, or during which, section 2 of this Act comes into force—

(a)each consultative committee shall as soon as practicable prepare and send to the Regulator a statement of the expenses which they expect to incur in respect of that financial year for the purposes of, or in connection with, the carrying out of their functions; and

(b)the Regulator shall consider any statement sent to him under paragraph (a) above and shall either approve the statement or approve it with such modifications as he considers appropriate.

(8)In this paragraph—

• “the 1962 Act” means the [1962 c. 46.] Transport Act 1962;

• “Area Committee” means an Area Transport Users Consultative Committee, established under section 56 of the 1962 Act;

• “consultative committee” means a consultative committee established under subsection (2) of section 2 of this Act.

(9)For the purposes of this paragraph the matters which are within the competence of a consultative committee are any matters of a kind which, after the coming into force of section 2 of this Act, the committee has power, or is under a duty, to investigate under section 77 of this Act.