15,000 words on Railway Law

[maniacmartin]

Hello,

I wasn't sure where to post this, so mods please move as appropriate.

My other half has to write 15,000 words on an area of law as part of a law course, and I am considering recommending something railway related*, as there are a few areas that could be covered, with a nice mix of civil and criminal, and it's something that's evolved over time. Potential topics I can think of are:

Ticketting - Regulation of Railways Act, Railway Byelaws, T&Cs, case law, Penalty Fares legislation

Railways Act, legal relationship between DfT/ATOC/TOCs/ROSCOs/Network Rail etc and legislation covering this.

Safety - Rule book, ORR's role, (I don't know much about the law here at all)

As you can see, outside of ticketting my knowledge of topics very poor. Can anyone suggest any potential areas I have missed? Chances are not all of them will make it as subject areas in the dissertation*, but it's nice to have some ideas of what could be good to write about.

*it might not be a dissertation technically, I do not know.

 

[the sniper]

Trespass - Mainly S.55 of the British Transport Commission Act 1949 nowadays, interesting in that evidence is required "of a notice exhibited at the station nearest the place of offence providing a clear public warning not to trespass on a railway".

Obstructing, Damaging or Endangering persons on the railway, property or engines - Various acts

The CPS page on transport offences has more details of the relevant Acts for the above, as well as fare evasion. Most railway law is well over a hundred years old. Even the latest DfT Byelaws are just an evolution of the Byelaws held by BR, the Big Four and the pre-grouping companies before them.

I don't know if it's what you're getting at, but the history of railway policing (i.e. railway police forces) is an area of railway history that I have a great interest in. Today's BTP is an amalgamation of over 200 railway, canal and harbour police forces. The BTP History Group has a list of constituent forces here: http://www.btphg.org.uk/?page_id=3507

More about the earliest years of railway police can be found here: http://www.btphg.org.uk/?page_id=57 The rest of the site is well worth a look too if you're into railway history.

 

[michael769]

Another avenue if she does not want to discuss criminal law would be to look at the legislative framework around privatization and franchising.

I don't have the references to had alas.

 

[martybabes]

British Railways Board v Herrington [1972] AC 877

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Another avenue if she does not want to discuss criminal law would be to look at the legislative framework around privatization and franchising.

I don't have the references to had alas.

I agree that this is a very interesting topic for study. The complexity of transferring staff, property, other assets to over a hundred new Companies, with a small range of options for achieving 'competition' is staggering, particularly when you consider that the whole operation would continue to function during the transition.
Legislation had to be changed and augmented, a statutory regulator had to be created, documents and systems had to be created (including the mysterious ORCATS) which would distribute the revenue across the new passenger operators, (even the maligned Avantix machines were designed for the needs of managing revenue across multiple operators).

I'd recomend Jon Shaw's "Competition, Regulation and Privatisation of British Rail" (Ashgate Publishing 2000 ISBN 0754614832), although I wish it was more thoroughly researched in several areas. There's an opportunity for further study.

 

[ex-railwayman]

Hello,

My other half has to write 15,000 words on an area of law as part of a law course, and I am considering recommending something railway related*, as there are a few areas that could be covered, with a nice mix of civil and criminal, and it's something that's evolved over time. Potential topics I can think of are:

Ticketting - Regulation of Railways Act, Railway Byelaws, T&Cs, case law, Penalty Fares legislation

Railways Act, legal relationship between DfT/ATOC/TOCs/ROSCOs/Network Rail etc and legislation covering this.

Safety - Rule book, ORR's role, (I don't know much about the law here at all)

As you can see, outside of ticketting my knowledge of topics very poor. Can anyone suggest any potential areas I have missed? Chances are not all of them will make it as subject areas in the dissertation*, but it's nice to have some ideas of what could be good to write about.

*it might not be a dissertation technically, I do not know.

Hello maniacmartin,

Forgive me for asking, but, being beady eyed, I noticed that in your avatar you give your location as New York, are you an ex-pat living over in the U.S? Unsure about obtaining research and reference material if you're living so far away from the U.K.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

 

[Zoidberg]

Hello maniacmartin,

Forgive me for asking, but, being beady eyed, I noticed that in your avatar you give your location as New York, are you an ex-pat living over in the U.S? ...

From previous posts, I think he's based in the UK - may be on his hols or away on business