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This Act may be cited as the Government Railways Act 1904.
[Section 1 inserted: No. 16 of 1987 s. 5.]
In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context —
Authority means the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia established by the Public Transport Authority Act 2003 section 5;
charges includes rates, fares, demurrage, storage, rents, fines and other charges;
chief executive officer means the chief executive officer of the Authority;
Department means the department of the Public Service principally assisting the Minister in the administration of this Act;
goods means goods, produce, merchandise, parcels, luggage, including passengers’ luggage, and chattels of any description, and includes minerals and live or dead animals;
liquor has the same meaning as it has in the Liquor Control Act 1988;
notice means a statement conveying the general effect of a matter or thing done or intended to be done;
prescribed means prescribed by by‑laws under this Act;
public notice means a notice published in the Government Gazette or in a newspaper circulating in the locality in which the subject matter of the notice arises or to which it relates, or posted in a conspicuous place on any railway station in such locality;
publicly notified means notified by public notice;
railway or government railway means any railway belonging to Her Majesty in Western Australia which has been or may be hereafter declared open for traffic by notice in the Government Gazette, and includes —
all land belonging to Her Majesty upon which the railway is constructed, or which is or is reputed to be held or used in connection with or for the purpose of a railway; and also
all branch lines, sidings, buildings, erections, wharves, jetties, works, locomotives, motor cars, motor and other vehicles, rolling‑stock, plant, machinery, goods, chattels, and other fixed or movable property of every description or kind belonging to Her Majesty, and situate on such land, or held or used or reputed to be held or used in connection with or for the purposes of a railway,
except that it does not include any railway or portion of a railway that under section 66A is not a government railway for the purposes of this Act;
road includes street, right‑of‑way, and thoroughfare.
[Section 2 amended: No. 36 of 1933 s. 3; No. 72 of 1947 s. 3; No. 78 of 1948 s. 5; No. 37 of 1957 s. 2; No. 61 of 1970 s. 2; No. 77 of 1980 s. 2; No. 54 of 1985 s. 56; No. 16 of 1987 s. 6; No. 87 of 1990 s. 4; No. 7 of 2002 s. 62(2); No. 31 of 2003 s. 97; No. 73 of 2006 s. 115; No. 19 of 2010 s. 60(4).]
If, for the purpose of facilitating the Authority’s involvement in, or the business of, a business concern, the Authority disposes of a leasehold interest in any railway land to the business concern, the disposal by the Authority of that interest does not prevent the land from continuing to be part of a government railway.
In this section —
business concern means a company, a partnership, a trust, a joint venture, or any other business arrangement, in which the Authority is involved for all or any of the purposes of —
acquiring or taking over any property, rights, and liabilities of the Authority; or
carrying out, controlling, or managing any undertaking, works, or business;
railway land means land that is part of a government railway.
[Section 2AA inserted: No. 31 of 2003 s. 98.]
If there is a conflict or inconsistency between a provision of this Act and a provision of the Rail Safety National Law (WA), the provision of that Law prevails to the extent of the conflict or inconsistency.
[Section 2A inserted: No. 7 of 2024 s. 57(2).]
Anything that is on Crown land that is part of a government railway —
is not a part of the land, regardless of whether it is of the nature of a fixture; and
is capable of being assigned separately from the land; and
is capable of being removed from the land by, or with the authority of, the owner of that thing.
[Section 3 inserted: No. 31 of 2003 s. 99.]
If all or part of a government railway is authorised to be constructed on Crown land, the land is to be regarded as if it had, at that time —
been reserved under the Land Administration Act 1997 section 41 for the purposes of performing the Authority’s functions under the Public Transport Authority Act 2003 or this Act; and
under the Land Administration Act 1997 section 46, been placed under the care, control, and management of the Authority for those purposes.
[Section 4 inserted: No. 31 of 2003 s. 100.]
[5. Deleted: No. 31 of 2003 s. 101.]
[6. Deleted: No. 32 of 1998 s. 64(2).]
A certificate under the hand of the chief executive officer that any specified land is included as portion of a government railway, or that any government railway is open for traffic, shall for all purposes be sufficient evidence of the fact.
[Section 7 amended: No. 31 of 2003 s. 102.]
[Part II (s. 8‑12) deleted: No. 31 of 2003 s. 103.]
The Authority shall have the management, maintenance and control of every government railway.
Subsection (1) has effect subject to —
this Act; and
[(b) deleted]
the Railways (Access) Act 1998; and
the Rail Freight System Act 2000; and
the Rail Safety National Law (WA).
For the purposes of the construction, operation, alteration, improvement, management, maintenance, or control of any railway subject to this Act, the Authority may —
purchase, hold, take on lease, exchange or otherwise acquire, sell, lease or otherwise dispose of, and deal in, real and personal property; and
enter into, assign and novate contracts, and execute all such instruments,
as may be required for those purposes.
[Section 13 amended: No. 78 of 1948 s. 6; No. 94 of 1973 s. 3; No. 38 of 1979 s. 2; No. 64 of 1994 s. 31; No. 32 of 1998 s. 64(2); No. 49 of 1998 s. 43(2); No. 13 of 2000 s. 91; No. 31 of 2003 s. 104 and 139(1); No. 18 of 2010 s. 261; No. 21 of 2015 s. 50; No. 7 of 2024 s. 57(3).]
Subject to this Act and to the prior approval of the Minister, the Authority may —
become a member of or shareholder in; and
contribute funds to,
any body whether incorporated or not (the body) that —
has its principal office within the Commonwealth; and
has among its principal objects the improvement of railway systems within the Commonwealth.
The chief executive officer or any other officer of the Authority authorised in writing by the chief executive officer may represent the Authority or hold office on the body but any authorisation given under this subsection is revocable by the chief executive officer.
Within any constraints that the Minister may impose, the Authority may —
take part in any activities of the body; and
carry out any function, investigation and research for or on behalf of the body either alone or in association with any other person appointed by the body; and
contribute to the cost of any activity carried on by the body or by any person on its behalf.
[Section 14 inserted: No. 31 of 2003 s. 105.]
Without in any way limiting the powers conferred by the Public Works Act 1902, the Authority may, from time to time, for the purpose of protecting any railway, or preventing or lessening any risk of damage thereto, construct, maintain, alter, or reconstruct any embankment, groin, or other protective work on any land or on the bank of any river or stream, or divert, impound, or take away the water of such river or stream or alter the course of the same; and may also discontinue or abandon any such work as and when it thinks fit.
[Section 15 amended: No. 36 of 1933 s. 5; No. 78 of 1948 s. 6; No. 31 of 2003 s. 139(1).]
[16. Deleted: No. 31 of 2003 s. 106.]
[17. Deleted: No. 32 of 1998 s. 64(2).]
18. Level crossings, gates etc. at etc.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other Act relating to the erection of gates across roads, it is hereby declared that, with respect to every railway, subsections (1) to (7) apply.
Where a railway crosses any road on a level the Authority may erect and maintain gates across such road on each side of the railway, and may keep such gates closed, except when foot‑passengers, horses, cattle, carts, carriages, and other vehicles passing along such road shall have to cross the railway and may safely do so.
It shall not be lawful without the consent in writing of the Authority, to erect or maintain across a road, where such road crosses any line of railway on the level, any gate within 40 metres of the middle line of such railway.
The Authority may agree with the local government having the control of such road to allow any such gate to be erected or maintained, under such conditions as, in the interests of public safety, it thinks fit to impose.
The Authority may require any such gate, whether erected before or after the passing of this Act, to be removed if cattle‑stops are provided at such level crossing.
At level crossings where there are cattle‑stops it shall not be lawful to erect or maintain gates so as to enclose the railway, without the consent in writing of the Authority.
If any gate is hereafter erected in breach of this Act, then, irrespective of all other liabilities to which the person or local government erecting the same is thereby exposed, the same may, at the cost and expense in all things of such person or authority, be at any time removed by the Authority without any notice.
With respect to every such gate as aforesaid which is in existence at the time of the coming into operation of this Act, it shall be the duty of the person or authority which erected the gate to remove the same within 48 hours after notice in writing so to do from the Authority; and if default is made in removing the same in terms of such notice, then the gate shall be deemed to be erected in breach of this Act, within the meaning of the last preceding subsection hereof, and the provisions of that subsection shall apply accordingly.
[Section 18 amended: No. 78 of 1948 s. 6; No. 94 of 1972 s. 4 (as amended: No. 19 of 1973); No. 14 of 1996 s. 4; No. 31 of 2003 s. 139(1); No. 19 of 2010 s. 60(4).]
[19. Deleted: No. 31 of 2003 s. 107.]
[20. Deleted: No. 32 of 1998 s. 64(2).]
[21. Deleted: No. 31 of 2003 s. 108.]
[22. Deleted: No. 49 of 1998 s. 43(3).]
The Authority may, from time to time, make by‑laws upon the following subjects —
regulating the mode in which, and speed at which, engines and other rolling‑stock are to be propelled or moved;
regulating the use of carriages by passengers, and the number of passengers to be carried in each carriage or compartment;
imposing conditions upon which passengers’ luggage will be carried;
regulating the loading and unloading of wagons and the weight they may carry;
regulating the weight to be carried in any sack, box, bale, or other package, and the size thereof, and imposing penal rates of charges for excess in respect of weight or size of package;
regulating the receipt, carriage, delivery of and other dealings with goods, the storing of the same, and the checking of luggage;
preventing any person affected with any infectious or contagious disease from travelling by railway, except under prescribed conditions;
prohibiting the carriage or conveyance of diseased or infected animals, or of animals, plants, fruit, or vegetable produce suspected of disease, except subject to prescribed conditions;
prohibiting the carriage of second‑hand fruit‑cases, or any cases or packages that may reasonably be supposed to have contained fruit, unless such cases are disinfected in accordance with the provisions of any Acts and regulations relating thereto;
preventing the smoking of tobacco or any other substance, and the committing of nuisances;
regulating the traffic on roads and bridges used both for ordinary and railway traffic;
regulating the public or private traffic of persons, vehicles, or goods on roads, bridges, and subways across, over, or under any railway;
preventing the trespass of persons or animals on any railway or any part thereof;
regulating the maintenance, usage, opening, and closing of all gates and slip‑panels, cattle‑stops, and fences;
regulating the manner, times, and places in and at which tickets of any kind shall be purchased by, issued to, used by, and delivered up by passengers;
facilitating and regulating the insurance of persons travelling on the lines of railway, by any accident insurance company now or hereafter to be formed;
regulating the mode in which, and the times within which claims for loss, non‑delivery of, or damage to goods, including passengers’ luggage, or in respect of any other cause of action relating to either goods including passengers’ luggage or passengers, shall be made;
regulating the terms on which private sidings may be constructed and used, the rent thereof, and the manner in which the same may be worked;
regulating the hire, use, and detention of any locomotives or rolling‑stock at such sidings, and the liability of persons hiring, using, or detaining the same for damage done thereto, or for the destruction or detention thereof;
providing for the grant of licences to porters and to the drivers of vehicles plying for hire within the precincts of any railway; prescribing the conditions of such licences (including the payment in each instance of a licence fee), and also of the transfer or forfeiture thereof; making similar provision for the licensing of vehicles plying for hire as aforesaid (including the payment in each instance of a licence fee), and the conditions subject to which such licences shall be held and may be transferred or forfeited; and providing also for the exclusion of any such licensed driver or vehicle from railway premises until there is room for his vehicle, and for the exclusion of all unlicensed porters or drivers and vehicles plying for hire as aforesaid;
regulating the admission to railway stations, offices, platforms, and premises of passengers going to or leaving the trains, or of persons having business at the station offices; limiting the time during which passengers and other persons may remain on railway stations, offices, platforms, and premises; excluding from stations, offices, platforms, and railway premises all persons not observing the by‑laws, or not having business thereat; imposing such fees or tolls as it deems fit in order to give effect to this subsection;
providing for areas on land which is or is reputed to be held or used in connection with or for the purpose of a railway, or which belongs to or is under the care, control, and management of the Authority, to be set aside as vehicle parking or standing areas for use by —
officers and servants of the Department or Authority; or
persons on railway business; or
the public generally; or
such persons or vehicles or classes of persons or classes of vehicles as may be prescribed;
generally regulating the control, supervision and management of parking or standing areas set aside under by‑laws made pursuant to paragraph (v) and in particular —
prescribing charges payable by any person using, or in respect of any vehicle occupying a parking or standing area and exempting any person or vehicle or class of person or class of vehicle from paying all or any of those charges; and
prescribing conditions under which and the period or periods of time during which a parking or standing area may be used or occupied; and
providing for the protection of parking and standing areas and all equipment pertaining to them against misuse, damage, interference or attempted interference by any person; and
regulating the parking and standing of vehicles in any parking or standing area and prohibiting any person from parking or standing any vehicle in a parking or standing area otherwise than in accordance with the by‑laws; and
exempting any person or vehicle or class of person or class of vehicle from complying with any by‑law made pursuant to this paragraph prohibiting or restricting the parking or standing of vehicles generally or otherwise; and
prescribing the method and the means by which any charges or penalties prescribed by any by‑law made pursuant to this paragraph may or shall be paid and collected, or recovered; and
prescribing the circumstances under which an officer or servant of the Department or Authority may remove a vehicle, or cause it to be removed, from a parking or standing area to a specified place, prescribing his further powers in relation thereto, prescribing the scale of charges to be paid to recover the vehicle from that place, and authorising the Authority to hold the vehicle until the prescribed charges are paid; and
prescribing, in respect of an alleged offence against any by‑law made pursuant to this paragraph, the circumstances under which the owner of the vehicle is deemed to be the driver or person in charge of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence; and
prescribing the period of time within which a person, after being served with notice of an offence alleged to have been committed by him against any by‑law made pursuant to this paragraph, may or shall pay to the Authority the penalty or modified penalty prescribed for that offence, and the period within which a penalty is payable after receipt of notice; and
prescribing the method of notifying a person alleged to have committed an offence against any by‑law made pursuant to this paragraph of that alleged offence and how it may or shall be dealt with and prohibiting the removal by any person other than the driver of a vehicle in respect of which an offence against such a by‑law is alleged to have been committed of any notice relating to the offence affixed to the vehicle or left in or on the vehicle by an officer or servant of the Department or Authority; and
prescribing a modified penalty or modified penalties payable to the Authority by a person or one of a class of persons who does not contest an allegation that he committed any specified offence against a by‑law made pursuant to this paragraph and providing that the due payment of a modified penalty is a defence to a charge of the offence in respect of which that modified penalty was paid;
subject to subsection (2), for authorising persons appointed by the Authority to remove into custody any vehicle left on a railway for a period in excess of 7 days, for authorising persons appointed by the Authority to use such force as is necessary to enter a vehicle so left for the purpose of removing it, for providing for the custody of vehicles so removed, for prescribing a scale of charges to be paid by the owner of such vehicle in order to recover the vehicle from custody, for providing that where such a vehicle is not recovered from custody within a period of 2 months the Authority may sell or otherwise dispose of the vehicle, for providing that the proceeds of the sale of such a vehicle may be applied towards recouping the costs of removal, custody and sale of the vehicle, for providing that the costs of the removal, custody and disposal of such a vehicle (less the proceeds of its sale, if any) may be recovered from the owner of the vehicle in a court of competent jurisdiction, and for providing that where the proceeds of the sale of such vehicle exceed the costs of its removal, custody and sale the amount of the excess shall be paid to the owner of the vehicle, or where the identity or whereabouts of the owner is unknown, credited to the account referred to in the Public Transport Authority Act 2003 section 32;
regulating the use of refreshment rooms and restaurant cars under the management and control of the Authority;
regulating the sale, supply, and consumption of liquor on trains or other property under the management or control of the Authority and restricting, to the extent specified in the by‑laws, the taking of liquor onto, or the possession of liquor on, any train, or a train specified in the by‑laws, that is under such management or control;
for organizing, classifying, and paying the staff employed on government railways, and prescribing the terms of employment, or in any other manner affecting the duties of such employees, provided that such by‑laws or regulations are in no way inconsistent with the terms of an award of the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission or any industrial agreement that may be in force;
prescribing the powers, authorities and duties of, and the form of authority to be furnished to, special constables appointed under this Act, and imposing obligations upon persons for the purpose of facilitating the exercise by special constables of such powers;
for the control, supervision and guidance of persons engaged in the management, maintenance and control of the government railways, and for prescribing the form and manner of signing and executing documents to be made or issued under this Act and for the promulgation of all acts, matters and things necessary, expedient or convenient for carrying into operation or for facilitating the operation of this Act;
prescribing offences and modified penalties for the purposes of section 53A;
generally for regulating the traffic on railways, and the conduct of all persons employed on or about the same or travelling or being thereon.
The by‑laws may authorise any railway officer or any other person to do all such things, and to issue all such instructions and regulations, as may be deemed advisable in respect of any such subjects, and may provide that any act or thing shall be done with the approval or to the satisfaction of a specified person or class of persons and may confer a discretionary authority.
Despite subsection (1)(f), while regulations for the checking of luggage are in force, no liability shall be incurred by Her Majesty or the Authority in respect of luggage which has not been duly checked.
By‑laws made pursuant to subsection (1)(x) shall provide that any vehicle removed pursuant to by‑laws made under that paragraph shall not be sold unless and until —
enquiries have been made as to the ownership of the vehicle; and
the owner has been notified in the prescribed manner of the Authority’s intention to sell the vehicle and where the owner cannot be so notified notice of the Authority’s intention to sell the vehicle has been published in a daily newspaper circulating throughout the State.
[Section 23 amended: No. 29 of 1907 s. 4; No. 78 of 1948 s. 6 and 15; No. 55 of 1960 s. 3; No. 61 of 1970 s. 3; No. 73 of 1975 s. 2; No. 47 of 1977 s. 3; No. 38 of 1979 s. 3; No. 79 of 1990 s. 5; No. 87 of 1990 s. 5; No. 64 of 1994 s. 32; No. 49 of 1996 s. 64; No. 31 of 2003 s. 109 and 139; No. 19 of 2010 s. 60(2)‑(4); No. 40 of 2022 s. 4.]
This section applies in respect to by‑laws made under section 23.
No by‑law shall have any force or effect unless it has been approved by the Governor and published in the Government Gazette.
All by‑laws shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within 10 days after the publication thereof, if Parliament is then sitting, and, if not, then within 10 days after the commencement of its next sitting.
[(3) deleted]
Any by‑law published in the Government Gazette shall be evidence in all courts of the same having been duly made under this Act.
Any by‑law may apply to railways generally, or to any particular railway or part of a railway.
Every contract between the Authority and any consignor or owner of goods, or passenger, shall be subject to the by‑laws in force for the time being, and such by‑laws shall be deemed part of the contract.
Any by‑law relating to the conduct of any person employed in or about a railway may impose a penalty not exceeding $250 for any breach thereof, and such penalty may be recovered by deducting the same from any salary or emoluments due or to accrue due to him.
Penalties recovered under subsection (7) may be applied in making good the damage caused by the wrongdoing or neglect of the person charged, and subject thereto shall be credited to the account referred to in the Public Transport Authority Act 2003 section 32.
Any other by‑law may impose a penalty not exceeding $200 for any breach thereof.
[Section 24 amended: No. 78 of 1948 s. 6; No. 55 of 1960 s. 4; No. 113 of 1965 s. 8; No. 21 of 1971 s. 2; No. 72 of 1972 s. 2; No. 77 of 1980 s. 3; No. 87 of 1990 s. 6; No. 49 of 1996 s. 64; No. 31 of 2003 s. 110 and 139(1); No. 19 of 2010 s. 60(4).]
25. Carriage of goods by rail, Authority may determine conditions of etc.
The Authority may determine the conditions of carriage of goods on any rail service operated by it, including limits on its liability for loss of, damage to or delay in the delivery of such goods.
[Section 25 inserted: No. 49 of 1998 s. 43(4); amended: No. 31 of 2003 s. 139(1).]