- access charges review
means a review of access charges carried out in accordance with Schedule 4A to the Act;
- access rights
means rights of access to railway infrastructure for the purpose of operating a service for the transport of goods or passengers;
- ad hoc request
means a request for individual train paths made other than in accordance with the timetable for the capacity allocation process as set out in Schedule 4;
- allocation
means the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity by an infrastructure manager;
- allocation body
means a body or undertaking, other than the infrastructure manager, which is responsible, by virtue of regulation 19(4), for the functions and obligations of the infrastructure manager under Part 5 and Schedule 4;
- alternative route
means another route between the same origin and destination where there is substitutability between the two routes for the operation of the freight or passenger service concerned by the railway undertaking;
- any relevant party
includes an infrastructure manager, service provider, railway undertaking or other entity performing or integrating different types of rail transport or infrastructure management as referred to in regulations 6 and 9(1).
- applicant
means a railway undertaking or an international grouping of railway undertakings or other persons or legal entities, such as competent authorities under the Public Service Obligations in Transport Regulations 2023 and shippers, freight forwarders and combined transport operators, with a public-service or commercial interest in procuring infrastructure capacity;
- appropriate Minister
means—
- capacity enhancement plan
means a measure or series of measures with a calendar for their implementation which aim to alleviate the capacity constraints which led to the declaration of an element of railway infrastructure as “congested infrastructure”;
- charging body
means a body or undertaking, other than the infrastructure manager, which is responsible, by virtue of regulation 14(9), for the functions and obligations of the infrastructure manager under Part 4 and Schedule 3;
- charging scheme
means the specific charging rules established in accordance with regulation 14 by the Office of Rail and Road or the infrastructure manager;
- charging system
means the system established by an infrastructure manager to determine access charges under regulation 14(2), (4) or (5);
- competent authority
has the same meaning as in regulation 2 of the Public Service Obligations in Transport Regulations 2023;
- congested infrastructure
means an element of railway infrastructure for which demand for infrastructure capacity cannot be fully satisfied during certain periods, even after coordination of the different requests for capacity;
- coordination
means the process through which the infrastructure manager and applicants will attempt to resolve situations in which there are conflicting applications for infrastructure capacity;
- cross-border agreement
means any agreement between the United Kingdom and any other country intended to facilitate the provision of cross-border rail services;
- development agreement
has the same meaning as in the 1996 Act;
- dominant body or firm
means a body or firm which is active and holds a dominant position in the national railway transport services market in which the relevant service facility is used;
- electrical plant
has the same meaning as in the Electricity Act 1989;
- European licence
means a licence granted pursuant to any action taken by an EEA State for the purpose of implementing the 1995 Directive or the 2012 Directive and a “licensing authority” means the body responsible for granting licences within an EEA State.”
- factory
has the same meaning as in the Factories Act 1961;
- framework agreement
means either— (a) an access contract described in section 18(2)(a) of the Act which satisfies one of the conditions in sub-section (1) of that section;
- high speed passenger services
means passenger rail services operated without intermediate stops between two places separated by a distance of at least 200km on specially-built high-speed lines equipped for speeds generally equal to or greater than 250km/h and running on average at those speeds;”
- infrastructure capacity
means the potential to schedule train paths requested for an element of railway infrastructure for a certain period;
- infrastructure manager
means any body or undertaking that is responsible in particular for— (a) the establishment, management and maintenance of railway infrastructure, including traffic management and control-command and signalling;
- interested parties
includes the Secretary of State.
- international passenger service
means a passenger service where the train crosses the border between the United Kingdom and a member State and where the principal purpose of the service is to carry passengers between stations located in the United Kingdom and a member State;
- licensing authority
means the body responsible for granting licences within an EEA State.”
- local or regional authorities
includes a combined authority established under section 103(1) of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. 13B................................”
- main infrastructure manager
has the same meaning as in the Directive;
- management board
means the senior body of an undertaking performing executive and administrative functions, which is responsible and accountable for day-to-day management of the undertaking;”
- military establishment
means an establishment intended for use for naval, military or air force purposes or for the purposes of the Department of the Secretary of State responsible for defence;
- mine
has the same meaning as in the Mines and Quarries Act 1954;
- national authorities
means the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers or the Welsh Ministers;
- national authority
means the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers or the Welsh Ministers;
- network
means, except in those cases where the context otherwise requires, the entire railway infrastructure managed by an infrastructure manager;
- network statement
means the statement required to be prepared and published under regulation 13;
- nuclear site
has the same meaning as in the Energy Act 2013;
- public-private partnership
means a binding arrangement between a public body or bodies and one or more undertakings other than the main infrastructure manager, under which the undertakings— (a) partially or totally construct or fund railway infrastructure;
- quarry
has the same meaning as in the Quarries Regulations 1999;
- rail link facility
has the same meaning as in section 17(5) of the 1996 Act, except that rail link facility also includes any rail maintenance depot which provides maintenance services primarily for rail vehicles providing services on the rail link (as defined in section 56 of the 1996 Act) to which the rail access is via that rail link;
- railway undertaking
means any public or private undertaking licensed according to the Railway (Licensing of Railway Undertakings) Regulations 2005, the principal business of which is to provide services for the transport of goods and/or passengers by rail with a requirement that the undertaking ensure traction;
- reasonable profit
means a rate of return on own capital that takes account of the risk, including that to revenue, or the absence of such risk, incurred by the operator of the service facility and is in line with the average rate for the sector concerned in recent years;
- regional
means, in relation to a transport service, such a service whose principal purpose is to meet the transport needs of a region, including a cross-border region;
- regional rail freight services
means transport services whose principal purpose is to meet the rail freight transport needs of a region, including a cross-border region.”
- Regulation (EU) No 913/2010
means Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22nd September 2010 concerning a European rail network for competitive freight;
- relevant decision, direction or notice
means—
- relevant operator
means—
- relevant public service contract
means a public service contract under which a relevant public service operator provides public passenger transport services, the route or routes of which overlap with the route of an international passenger service notified to the Office of Rail and Road under regulation 19(7);
- relevant public service operator
means a public service operator providing public passenger transport services, the route or routes of which overlap with the route of an international passenger service notified to the Office of Rail and Road under regulation 19(7);
- service facility
means the installation, including ground area, building and equipment, which has been specially arranged, as a whole or in part, to allow the supply of one or more of the services listed in paragraph 2, 3 or 4 of Schedule 2;
- service provider
means a body or undertaking that supplies any of the services— (a) to which access is granted by virtue of regulation 6;
- suburban
means, in relation to a transport service, such a service whose principal purpose is to meet the transport needs of an urban centre or conurbation, including a cross-border conurbation, together with transport needs between such a centre or conurbation and surrounding areas;
- supervisory board
means the most senior body of an undertaking that fulfils supervisory tasks, including the exercise of control over the management board and taking general strategic decisions regarding the undertaking;”
- the 1996 Act
means the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996;
- the Act
means the Railways Act 1993;
- the Channel Tunnel charging framework
means the charging framework set out in the Annex to the IGC regulation;
- the Directive
means Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21st November 2012 establishing a single European railway area (recast);
- the IGC regulation
means the regulation of the Intergovernmental Commission of 23rd March 2015 transferring economic rail regulation competence from the Intergovernmental Commission to the national regulatory bodies, setting out principles for the cooperation between them and establishing a charging framework for the Channel Fixed Link;
- the Office of Rail and Road
means the body established under section 15 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003;
- train path
means the infrastructure capacity needed to run a train between two places over a given period;
- tunnel system
has the same meaning as in the Channel Tunnel Act 1987;
- United Kingdom national
means an individual who is—
- urban or suburban rail passenger services
means transport services whose principal purpose is to meet the passenger transport needs of an urban centre or conurbation, including a cross-border conurbation, together with transport needs between such a centre or conurbation and surrounding areas;
- vertically integrated undertaking
means— (a) an undertaking where, within the meaning of Council Regulation (EC) No. 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (the EC Merger Regulation)— (a) an infrastructure manager is controlled by an undertaking which at the same time controls one or several railway undertakings that operate rail services on the infrastructure manager’s network;
- viable alternative
means access to another service facility which is economically acceptable to the railway undertaking, and allows it to operate the freight or passenger services concerned;
- working day
means any day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, Good Friday, Christmas Day or a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 in England and Wales or Scotland;
- working timetable
means the data defining all planned train and rolling-stock movements which will take place on the relevant railway infrastructure during the period for which it is in force;
- working timetable period
means the calendar year commencing at midnight on the second Saturday in December.