Legislation
Additionally, the regulations transpose into UK law, Articles 19 to 25 of the Railway Safety Directive (2004/49/EC), which requires member states to establish independent rail accident investigation bodies by 30 April 2006 and sets out the principles of mandatory investigations of serious accidents and incidents, above a defined threshold level.
The regulations came into force for mainland UK on 17th October and the RAIB became operational on that date. Operations will be further extended to cover the Channel Tunnel from 31 January 2006.
The Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations 2005 (SI1992), which were laid in Parliament on 20 July 2005, complete the legal framework within which the Branch operates.
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The Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations 2005 |
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The Regulations can be viewed on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website by clicking the link on the left. (Link opens in a new window). |
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The Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 |
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The Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations 2005 (RAIRR), when laid in Parliament, were subject to scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments (JCSI). The Department for Transport (DfT) responded to the points made by the JCSI with The Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 which came into force on 11th January 2006. These Regulations amend the RAIRR. They insert a definition of "working days" in regulation 2(1) (an expression used in regulation 4 of those Regulations to describe the time within which accidents or incidents must be reported). They also insert the word "reasonably" before "determine" in regulation 12(4) (providing for the time within which a safety authority may require a person to consider or act upon a recommendation of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch and to provide it with certain information). The Amended Regulations can be viewed on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website by following the link on the left. (Link opens in a new window). |
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The Railway Safety Directive - 2004/49/EC |
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This document can be accessed via Europa, the portal site of the European Union, by following the link on the left. (Link opens in a new window). |
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Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 |
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The Act can be viewed on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website by clicking the link on the left. (Link opens in a new window). |
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