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Public Works Act 1981

Railways and tramways regulation and inspection - Local railways and tramways

180: Minister may postpone opening or working of local railway

You could also call this:

“Minister can pause railway use for safety reasons”

If someone checks a local railway and thinks it might be dangerous for people to use or work on, they can tell the Minister about it. The person checking might be worried because the railway isn’t finished, needs repairs, or doesn’t have enough staff to run safely.

When this happens, the Minister can do a few things:

The Minister can tell the railway owners to wait before opening it or to stop using it for up to a month. This gives time to make sure it’s safe for people to use.

If the railway is a tramway with special permission, the Minister can tell the owners to finish building it properly, but people can still use the tramway while this happens.

The railway owners can get a copy of the report that explains why the Minister made this decision.

If the railway owners don’t do what the Minister says, they’re breaking the law. They might have to pay up to $1,000 for each day they don’t follow the rules.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM47785.

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Part 14 Railways and tramways regulation and inspection
Local railways and tramways

180Minister may postpone opening or working of local railway

  1. If the person appointed to inspect any local railway or portion of local railway, after inspecting it, reports in writing to the Minister that in his opinion the opening or the continued working of it would be dangerous to the public or to the persons employed on the railway, owing to—

  2. the incompleteness of the works or permanent way; or
    1. the need for necessary repairs in any part of the railway; or
      1. the insufficiency of the establishment for working the railway—
          1. the Minister may from time to time—
        1. order the proprietors of the railway to postpone its opening or discontinue working it, as the case may require, for any period not exceeding 1 month at any one time, until it appears to the Minister that the opening may take place or the working may be resumed without danger to the public; or
          1. where an authorising order has been made under the Tramways Act 1908, direct that the works thereby authorised shall be completed in accordance with that order and any plan or documents mentioned in it, without suspending the traffic upon the tramway.

            1. The proprietors shall be entitled to a copy of the report on which any such order is founded.

            2. If any order made by the Minister under this section is not complied with by the proprietors of any local railway affected by it, they commit an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 for every day or part of a day during which the order is not complied with.

            Compare
            • 1928 No 21 s 246
            Notes
            • Section 180(3): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).