CHAPTER 116. RAILWAYS

CHAPTER 116. RAILWAYS.

Date-in-force 1ST AUGUST, 1914.

INDEX.

SECTION.

1. Short title.

2. General Manager, clerks and other officers.

3. Interpretation.

4. Rules.

5. Fare and freight to be accepted conditionally.

6. Fares to be prepaid.

7. Penalty for fraud.

8. Fine for entering carriage in motion or riding on the steps.

9. Fines for riding on engine, tender or luggage van.

10. Smoking and chewing of betel, etc., prohibited.

11. Penalty for intoxication or nuisance.

12. Penalty for entering private room of carriage.

13. Liability for goods lost, destroyed, or injured.

14. Remedy for non-payment of the carriage of goods or fares.

15. Written account of goods to be given on demand.

16. Carriage of goods of a dangerous nature.

17. Persons suffering from small pox, etc., not allowed to travel.

18. Penalty for removing stakes or pegs, or defacing marks.

19. Penalty for trespass.

20. Penalty for driving an animal upon or across the railway.

21. Precautions if railway crosses road.

22. Occupation crossings

23. Liability of owner of animal trespassing.

24. Penalty for injuring carriage, etc.

25. Obstructing engine or carriage or endangering safety of passengers . 26. Penalty for wilful act or omission endangering a passenger.

27. Penalty for drunkenness or breach of duty by railway official.

28. Penalty for an act if not wilful.

29. Breach of rules.

30. Apprehension of offenders.

31. Legal obligation of railway official.

32. Punishment of children for breach of Ordinance.

33. Recovery of fines and penalties, and alternative punishment.

34. Liability of offenders to pay costs of conviction.

35. Recovery of money due, damages and expenses.

36. Limitation of time for commencement of actions.

37. Enforcing payment of fare by passenger not producing ticket.

38. Copy and translation of Ordinance to be shown at railway stations.

39. Penalty for removing documents or notices.

40. Provisions as to punishment of railway officials.

. CHAPTER 116. RAILWAYS.

To provide for the constitution and control of railways.

[1ST AUGUST, 1914.]

1. Short title.

This Ordinance may be cited as the Railways Ordinance.

2. General Manager, clerks and other officers.

To execute the duties and powers hereinafter mentioned a fit and proper person shall be appointed and shall be called the General Manager, and shall be assisted in the execution of such duties and powers by the appointment of such principal officers, clerks and other servants as may be deemed necessary.

3. Interpretation.

For the purposes of this Ordinance--

"railway" shall include all railways already constructed or in course of construction or to be hereafter constructed by or on behalf of the Government;

"railway official" shall include the General Manager and all such officers, servants, agents and other persons as shall from time to time be employed to do any act upon the railway.

4. Rules.

The Governor may make rules regulating the classification of goods, the goods that are to be charged for at special rates, the charges to be made for the conveyance of passengers and goods by the railway, and all other matters not especially provided for by this Ordinance and necessary to provide, in every respect, for the management and due and profitable working of the railway.

5. Fare and freight bo be accepted conditionally.

The fare or freight paid for the conveyance of passengers or goods respectively shall be deemed to be accepted only upon condition that there be room in the train for such purpose and in the event of such room being insufficient for the due conveyance of all passengers or goods whose fares and freight shall have been so paid preference shall be given to ticket-holders or goods booked for the furthest destination and in other cases according to the order of obtaining tickets or booking:

Provided that all officers and troops on duty, and all other persons travelling on the business of Government shall be entitled to be conveyed on the railway in preference or in priority to the public, without reference to the distance for which or the order in which, such public shall have received their tickets.

6. Fares to be prepaid.

(1) Passenger tickets to be given up on demand. No person shall enter any railway carriage for the purpose of travelling therein without having first paid his fare and obtained a ticket.

(2) Every person desirous of travelling on the railway shall, upon payment of his fare, be furnished with a ticket specifying the class of carriage for and the station from and to which the fare has been paid, and shall, when required so to do, show such ticket to any railway official duly authorised to examine the same, and shall deliver up such ticket upon demand to any railway official duly authorised to collect the same.

(3) Any person failing to produce or deliver up his ticket as aforesaid shall in addition to the fare payable for the journey he shall have accomplished at the time of such demand being made be liable to pay a fine equal to 10 per cent. of the sum so payable or failing to satisfy such official as to the point at which such journey was commenced shall be deemed to have joined the train at the first departure station thereof and in addition to the fare chargeable therefrom shall be liable to pay a fine equal to 10 per cent. of such fare.

(4) Any passenger joining the train at a station where tickets are sold, and failing to procure or failing to satisfy the railway authorities that he has taken reasonable steps to procure his ticket thereat shall pay a fine of five cents in excess of the fare due, provided he shall immediately have informed such official of the failure to procure such ticket.

(5) A passenger holding a ticket and continuing his journey beyond the station marked thereon shall pay a fine of 10 per cent. in excess of the fare for the further distance so travelled, unless he shall have advised the guard beforehand of his intention so to continue his journey, provided that such minimum fare recoverable be 5 cents.

7. Penalty for fraud.

Any person--

(a)defrauding or attempting to defraud the Government--

(i)by travelling or attempting to travel upon the railway without having previously paid his fare; or

(ii)by riding in or upon a carriage of a higher class than that for which he shall have paid his fare; or

(iii)by tendering a ticket out of date; or

(iv)by continuing his journey in or upon any of the carriages beyond the station for which he shall have paid his fare; or

(b)knowingly and wilfully refusing or neglecting on arriving at the station to which he shall have paid his fare to quit such carriage and the railway premises; or

(c)in any manner whatsoever attempting to evade the payment of his fare; or (d)transferring or profiting by the transfer of the return half of any ticket obtained by him;

shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars for each offence.

8. Fine for entering carriage in motion or riding on the steps. Any passenger--

(a)getting into or upon, or attempting to get into or upon, or quitting or attempting to quit any carriage upon the railway while such carriage is in motion; or

(b)riding or attempting to ride upon the railway on the steps or any other part of a carriage, except on those parts which are intended for the accommodation of passengers;

shall be liable to a fine of ten dollars for each offence.

9. Fines for riding on engine, tender or luggage van.

Any person other than the engineman and fireman and assistant fireman, if any, not being specially authorised so to do by the General Manager or the Locomotive Superintendent or executive officer in charge of the line, riding or attempting to ride upon any locomotive engine or tender upon the railway, and any person other than the guard or brakesman, not being specially authorised so to do by the General Manager or the Traffic Superintendent or the guard or brakesman, riding 01 attempting to ride upon the railway in or upon any luggage-van or goods-waggon, or other vehicle not appropriated to the carrying of passengers, shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars for each offence.

10. Smoking and chewing of betel, etc., prohibited.

Any person smoking or chewing, as the case may be, betel, bhang, tobacco, opium or other like substance, either on the premises, or in or upon any of the carriages belonging to the railway, other than those in which such smoking or chewing is not prohibited, shall be liable to a fine of ten dollars for each offence; and any person persisting in infringing this regulation after being warned to desist from so doing by any railway official or passenger, may, in addition to such liability, be removed by such official from any such carriage and from the premises appertaining to the railway, and shall forfeit his fare.

11. Penalty for intoxication or nuisance.

Any person being in a state of intoxication, or insufficiently or indecently clad, or committing any nuisance or act of indecency in any railway carriage, or upon any part of the premises appertaining to the railway, or wilfully and without lawful excuse interfering with the comfort of any passenger on the railway, shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars, and to imprisonment for three months; and in addition to such penalty the offender may be removed by any railway official from any such carriage and premises, and shall forfeit his fare.

12. Penalty for entering private room of carriage.

Any male person without lawful excuse entering any railway-carriage or portion thereof or any private room or apartment specially reserved and provided for the exclusive use of females knowing the same to be so exclusively appropriated or remaining therein after having been informed of such exclusive appropriation or entering any carriage or compartment specially reserved for the private use of any person or persons or remaining therein after being requested to depart therefrom or any passenger of a lower class knowingly and wilfully refusing or neglecting to leave any room or place set apart for passengers of a higher class, shall be liable to a fine of fifty dollars, and may be removed therefrom and from the premises appertaining to the railway by any railway official, and shall forfeit his fare.

13. Liability for goods lost, destroyed, or injured.

The Government shall in no case be liable for--

(a)the loss of articles or goods, or for any damage or injury thereto whether occurring on the railway, or on property or premises under the control of the railway administration, such loss or damage being due to an act of God or to civil commotion;

(b)loss of or damage to passengers' free luggage, the same not having been registered, nor for loss or damage to any articles or goods whilst in the custody of the railway authorities, whether at the station of despatch or during transport or whilst at the station of receipt, nor for damage caused thereto by fire, unless the said articles or goods shall have been booked and such loss or damage shall have been caused by the negligence or misconduct of railway officials;

(c)the loss, damage or injury of or to articles or goods put into returned wrappers, boxes, packages and the like, and falsely described as empties, nor for any articles or goods left until called for, or to order, or warehoused for the convenience of the parties to whom they belong or by or to whom they are consigned; nor for any goods remaining on the railway premises beyond 48 hours after arrival at the station of destination;

(d)the loss, damage, or injury to any articles insufficiently or improperly packed, marked, directed or described or containing a variety of articles liable to damage each other or the contents of other packages nor for leakage arising from bad or imperfect casks or cooperage, or from bad or imperfect vessels containing liquids, or from fermentation;

(e)loss, damage or injury to any articles or goods whatsoever caused by reason of accidental or unavoidable delay in transit;

(f)damage by fire to neighbouring property or buildings privately owned such fire having originated on the line of railway, unless such damage shall be proved to have been directly caused by the sparks from the engines or by the negligence of persons employed by the railway authorities and provided that the roofs and sides of such buildings shall not have been constructed of materials of a more inflammable nature than metal and wood respectively.

14. Remedy for nonpayment of the carriage of goods of fares.

(1) Penalty for giving false account.

If any person shall fail to pay on demand any sum due for the conveyance of any goods, it shall be lawful for the General Manager to detain all or any part of such goods, or, if the same shall have been removed from the premises appertaining to the railway, any other goods of such person which shall then be upon such premises or shall thereafter come into the possession of the railway authorities, and after reasonable notice to such person to sell by public auction a sufficient quantity of such goods to realise the sum payable as aforesaid, and all charges and expenses of such detention and sale; and out of the proceeds of the sale to retain the sum so payable, together with the charges and expenses aforesaid, rendering the surplus, if any, of the money arising by such sale and such of the goods as shall remain unsold, to the person entitled thereto; or the General Manager may recover any sum by action at law.

(2) The goods of passengers may be detained and sold, and the proceeds disposed of as above provided for nonpayment of the fares due by the owners thereof.

15. Written account of goods to be given on demand.

(1) The owner or person having the care of any goods other than passengers' luggage, which shall have been carried upon the railway, or shall be brought to the premises appertaining to the railway for the purpose of being carried on the railway, shall, on demand by any railway official, deliver to such official an exact account in writing, signed by him, of the number, quantity and description of such goods.

(2) Any such owner or person wilfully giving a false account of such goods with intent to avoid full payment of the railway tariff chargeable thereon shall be liable to pay double the amount of such tariff.

16. Carriage of goods of a dangerous nature.

No person shall carry upon the railway or be entitled or require any railway official to carry upon the railway any article which, in the judgment of any railway official, shall be of a dangerous nature, or so bulky that it would be unsafe for the railway to convey the same; and any person carrying upon the railway any dangerous article, or delivering for carriage any such article without distinctly declaring the nature of the same, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for every such offence, and it shall be lawful for any railway official to refuse to carry any luggage or package that may be suspected to contain articles of a dangerous nature, and to require the same to be opened; and in case any such luggage or package shall have been received by any railway official for the purposes of being carried on the railway it shall be lawful for any such official to stop the transit thereof until he shall be satisfied as to the nature of the contents of each luggage or package.

(2) Penalty for opening or not properly shutting gates.

For any bulky or voluminous article, package or the like, being of a weight disproportionate to the cubic space occupied thereby, a freight charge may be made in excess of the actual weight thereof, such increased weight being calculated upon such basis as may be declared by rule hereunder.

17. Persons suffering from small-pox, etc., not allowed to travel.

Any person wilfully travelling by the railway whilst knowingly suffering from small-pox or other contagious disease shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars and as soon as possible any such person may be removed or caused to be removed from any railway carriage and from the railway premises by any railway official, and such person shall in addition to such fine be liable to defray the cost of disinfecting any such carriage or portion thereof.

18. Penalty for removing stakes or pegs, or defacing marks.

Any person removing any stakes or pegs, or other marks placed by any railway official or by any surveyor or his servants or agents along the line of any railway, or contiguous thereto, for the purpose of setting out, tracing, or showing the line or gradients or distances, shall be liable to a fine of fifty dollars.

19. Penalty for trespass.

Any person trespassing upon the railway or upon any of the lands, stations or other premises appertaining thereto, shall be liable to a fine of ten dollars; and any such person refusing to leave the railway or premises on being requested so to do by any railway official shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars, and may be immediately removed therefrom.

20. Penalty for driving an animal upon or across the railway.

Any person wilfully riding, leading or driving upon or across the railway any animal, except in directly crossing the railway at any road or place appointed for that purpose at a time at which he may lawfully do so, shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars for each offence.

21. Precautions if railway crosses road.

The Governor may declare any road or path crossed by the railway on the level to be a public road or path and direct the General Manager to construct and maintain such fencing and gates and to provide such proper persons to open and close and attend to such gates in such manner and under such regulations as the Governor may approve.

22. Occupation crossings.

(1) The Governor may declare any road or path crossed by the railway to be an occupation crossing and such crossings shall be regulated in the manner following, that is to say--

(a)the gates of the same shall be kept locked by means of padlocks, the keys whereof shall be in the charge of a railway official, and such gates shall not close across the railway;

(b)any person desiring to use the same shall give notice to the Station Master of the station nearest thereto of his intention so to do;

(c)the General Manager shall declare the hours suitable for the opening thereof and the gates shall, except in the case provided for in subsection (3), be opened only at the times so declared;

(d)horses and cattle passing thereover shall be led by a suitable and properly secured halter.

(2) Any person using or attempting to use an occupation crossing without such notice as aforesaid, or at hours other than those declared as aforesaid, and any person causing horses or cattle to cross without such halter as aforesaid, and The owner of any horses or cattle so crossing, shall be guilty of an offence, and be liable to a fine of twenty dollars, or to imprisonment for three months.

(3) Any person for whose use or accommodation any gates shall have been set up on either side of the railway, or any person, opening such gates or passing or attempting to pass or taking or attempting to take any vehicle or animal or thing across the railway at any time when any engine or train approaching along the same shall be in sight; or at any time omitting to shut and fasten such gate as soon as he or any vehicle or animal or thing under his charge shall have passed through the same shall be liable to a fine of fifty dollars.

23. Liability of owner of animal trespassing.

(1) The owner of any animal found trespassing or straying upon the railway, or upon any lands appertaining to the railway, shall be liable to a fine of five dollars for each animal so found; and it shall be lawful for any railway official to take or drive every such animal to the nearest police station, there to be detained until the amount of fine incurred by such trespass, and the expense of feeding and keeping such animal, be paid, or until a magistrate shall otherwise order.

(2) Any railway official may shoot any such animal on the same proving to be unmanageable notwithstanding and in addition to such liability of the owner thereof as aforesaid.

(3) A magistrate may, upon proof of such trespass and after reasonable notice, cause such animal to be sold by public auction, and the proceeds of the sale, after deducting therefrom such fine as the magistrate shall award, and such further sum as the magistrate shall order to be paid for the expenses of detaining, feeding and selling such animal, shall be returned to the owner of the animal on demand.

24. Penalty for injuring carriage, etc.

Any person unlawfully and wilfully removing or defacing any numberplate or removing or extinguishing any lamp on any carriage or signal post belonging to the railway, or wilfully imitating any railway signal; or wilfully or negligently damaging or injuring any carriage, engine, waggon, truck, station, warehouse, bridge, building, machine, rail-points, fence or any other matter or thing belonging to the railway, shall be liable to a fine of two hundred dollars or to imprisonment for one year.

25. Obstructing engine or carriage or endangering safety of passengers.

Any person wilfully and maliciously placing, casting or throwing upon or across the railway any wood, stone, matter or thing belonging to the railway, or turning, moving or diverting any point or other machinery belonging to the railway, or making, showing, hiding or removing any signal or light upon or near the railway, or doing or causing to be done any act with intent, in any of the cases aforesaid, to upset, to obstruct, overthrow, injure, or destroy any engine, tender, carriage or truck used upon the railway, or endangering the safety of any persons travelling or being upon the railway, or casting, or throwing, or causing to fall or strike against, into or upon any engine, tender, carriage or truck used upon the railway any wood, stone or other matter or thing, with intent to endanger the safety of any person being in or upon such engine, tender, carriage or truck shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine of one thousand dollars, and to imprisonment for ten years.

26. Penalty for wilful act or omission endangering a passenger.

Whoever shall wilfully do any act, or shall wilfully omit to do what he is legally bound to do, intending by such act or omission to cause, or knowing that he is thereby likely to cause, danger to any person travelling or being upon the railway shall be liable to a fine of one hundred dollars and to imprisonment for seven years.

27. Penalty for drunkenness or breach of duty by railway official.

Any railway official being in a state of intoxication whilst actually employed upon the railway or any of the works connected therewith in the discharge of any duty and negligently omitting to perform his duty or performing the same in an improper manner shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars, and if the duty be such that the omission or negligent performance thereof would be likely to endanger the safety of any person travelling or being upon the railway, shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for one year, and to a fine of one hundred dollars.

28. Penalty for an act if not wilful.

Any person rashly or negligently and without lawful excuse doing any act likely to endanger his own safety, or that of any person travelling or being upon the railway, shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for six months, and to a fine of fifty dollars.

29. Breach of rules.

Any person wilfully doing any act which is forbidden or neglecting to do any act required by the provisions of any rules framed under this Ordinance shall be liable on conviction to a fine of twenty-five dollars.

30. Apprehension of offenders.

Any person guilty of any offence under this Ordinance may be lawfully apprehended without any warrant or written authority by any railway official, or by any other person called to the aid of such official, or by any police officer, and any person so apprehended shall with all convenient despatch be conveyed before a magistrate to be dealt with according to law.

31. Legal obligation of railway official.

Every railway official shall be legally bound to do everything necessary for, or conducive to, the safety of the public and shall refrain from doing every act likely to cause danger.

32. Punishment of children. Cap. 30.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code it shall be competent to any magistrate before whom any person under the age of sixteen years shall be convicted of any offence to order the moderate chastisement of such person by whipping not exceeding twelve strokes with a light rattan, in lieu of any punishment prescribed by this Ordinance, and such chastisement shall be inflicted immediately on conviction if the magistrate shall so direct.

33. Recovery of fines and penalties, and alternative punishment.

All fines and penalties inflicted under the provisions of this Ordinance may, in default of payment otherwise made, be recovered by distress and sale of the property of the offender, provided that such distress and sale be authorised by warrant under the hand of the magistrate by whom such fine or penalty is inflicted, and in default of payment of such fine or penalty or of the recovery of the same by distress the offender shall be liable in the alternative to imprisonment for a term proportionate to the amount of such fine or penalty.

34. Liability of offenders to pay costs of conviction.

The magistrate may order any offender convicted under this Ordinance to pay the costs of such conviction in addition to any penalty or expenses to which he may be liable and such costs may be assessed by the magistrate, and levied and recovered in the same manner as any fine thereunder.

35. Recovery of money due, damages and expenses.

Any money, damages or expenses payable under the provisions of this Ordinance may be levied and recovered in the same manner as any fines under this Ordinance.

36. Limitation of time for commencement of actions.

No suit shall be instituted against any person for anything done, or intended to be done or omitted to be done, Under this Ordinance after the expiration of three months from the occurrence of the matter complained of.

37. Enforcing payment of fare by passenger not producing ticket.

The payment of any fare due by reason of any passenger not producing or delivering up his ticket may be enforced in the same manner as any fine imposed under this Ordinance.

38. Copy and translation of Ordinance to be shown at railway stations . A copy of this Ordinance and rules, Time Tables and Tariffs duly made and published shall be kept at each station at the disposal of the public and shall be exhibited thereat in English and such other language as shall be required by order of the Governor in a convenient place for reference, so that they may be easily seen and read and knowledge of the contents thereof shall be presumed as against any person using the railway upon proof that such copy was so exhibited.

39. Penalty for removing documents or notices.

Any person removing or defacing or in any other way injuring any document exhibited by the railway authorities as required by the preceding section hereof, or any notice or document posted by them at any station or anywhere upon the railway, shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars, or to imprisonment for three months.

40. Provisions as to punishment of railway officials.

(1) The General Manager may, on sufficient cause shown and subject to the proviso hereinafter contained, summarily dismiss for misconduct any railway official not under agreement, or may suspend any such official from the performance of his duties:

Provided that every railway official so dismissed or suspended shall have the right of appeal to the Governor; and, should such suspension or dismissal be confirmed by the Governor, such official if suspended shall thereupon be dismissed from the service of the Government, or if already dismissed by the General Manager shall be deemed to be finally dismissed without further appeal.

(2) The General Manager may make such by-laws as he shall think fit for the purpose of regulating the conduct of the officers and servants employed on the railway and a copy thereof shall be given to every officer and servant affected thereby.

(3) The General Manager may, by such by-laws, impose such reasonable penalties upon all persons, being officers and servants employed on the railway, offending against such by-laws, as the said General Manager may think fit, not exceeding in any one month seven days pay of any such officer or servant: Provided that any officer or servant employed on the railway, who may feel aggrieved by any such penalty as aforesaid may appeal to the Governor, whose decision shall be final.

(4) The imposition of fines under subsection (3) upon any officer or servant employed on the railway shall (subject to the appeal thereinafter provided for) be wholly within the discretion of the General Manager and should it appear to the General Manager that the offence or misconduct in respect of which any such fine shall have been incurred would be better dealt with by a criminal prosecution it may be instituted in lieu of the imposition of any such fine.

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