Railways (Access) Act 1998

The main object of this Act is to establish a rail access regime that encourages the efficient use of, and investment in, railway facilities by facilitating a contestable market for rail operations.

[Section 2A inserted: No. 13 of 2000 s. 63.]

3 ^1M. Terms used in this Act

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —

access means the use of railway infrastructure;

access agreement means an agreement under the Code between a railway owner and another person for access by that person;

Authority means the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia established by the Public Transport Authority Act 2003 section 5;

Code means the Code for the time being in force under section 4;

Competition Principles Agreement means the Competition Principles Agreement made on 11 April 1995 by the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories as in force for the time being;

Government railway means a railway, as defined in section 2 of the Government Railways Act 1904, that is under the management and control of the Authority as provided by section 13 of that Act;

railway infrastructure means the facilities necessary for the operation of a railway, including —

railway track, associated track structures, over or under track structures, supports (including supports for equipment or items associated with the use of a railway);

tunnels and bridges;

stations and platforms;

train control systems, signalling systems and communication systems;

electric traction infrastructure;

buildings and workshops; and

associated plant machinery and equipment,

but not including —

sidings or spur lines that are excluded by subsection (3) or (4) from being railway infrastructure associated with the railway concerned;

rolling stock, rolling stock maintenance facilities, office buildings, housing, freight centres, or terminal yards and depots;

railway owner means the person having the management and control of the use of the railway infrastructure;

railways network means —

all the railways that were Government railways when this Act received the Royal Assent ¹;

all the railways that are on land that is corridor land as defined in the Rail Freight System Act 2000;

the railway constructed pursuant to the TPI Railway and Port Agreement; and

any railway declared under subsection (2) to be a part of the railways network;

Regulator means the Economic Regulation Authority established by the Economic Regulation Authority Act 2003;

TPI Railway and Port Agreement has the meaning given to the term “the Agreement” in the Railway and Port (The Pilbara Infrastructure Pty Ltd) Agreement Act 2004 section 3.

If a railway (the new railway) is constructed after this Act receives the Royal Assent ¹ and the new railway is connected to a railway that is a part of the railways network, the Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, declare the new railway to be a part of the railways network.

If a siding associated with a railway is managed and controlled by a different person from the person who manages and controls the use of the railway, the siding is not railway infrastructure of the railway for the purposes of this Act.

If a spur line associated with a railway is connected to premises managed and controlled by a different person from the person who manages and controls the use of the railway, the spur line is not railway infrastructure of the railway for the purposes of this Act unless the Minister, by order published in the Gazette, declares that it, or any of it, is railway infrastructure of the railway.

For the purposes of this Act and the Code, the railway constructed pursuant to the TPI Railway and Port Agreement includes the Christmas Creek to Cloud Break spur line and is taken to have included that spur line since construction of the spur line was completed.

Subsections (3) and (4) do not apply to a siding or spur line associated with the railway constructed pursuant to the TPI Railway and Port Agreement.

[Section 3 amended: No. 13 of 2000 s. 64; No. 55 of 2000 s. 5; No. 31 of 2003 s. 152(2); No. 67 of 2003 Sch. 2 cl. 55; No. 77 of 2004 s. 8; No. 60 of 2010 s. 10.]

[Section 3, modifications have effect under the Railway (Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd) Agreement Act 2010 s. 8. See note 1M.]