PART IV.

Cesser of train services and closing of railways and canals.

19. —(1) The Board may, subject to the provisions of this section, terminate any service of trains for passengers and merchandise or either of them.

(2) The Board shall not terminate a service unless it is satisfied that its operation is uneconomic and that there is no prospect of its continued operation being economic within a reasonable period.

(3) The Board shall not terminate a service or close a railway station to any or all classes of traffic unless, at least two months before doing so, the Board has published, in Iris Oifigiúil and in such newspapers circulating in the area affected by the proposal as the Board thinks proper, notice of its intention to do so.

(4) The notice shall indicate the new or additional road transport services, if any, which the Board proposes to provide in the area.

(5) If the Board does not propose to provide an alternative road transport service the notice shall state that applications for passenger licences under the Road Transport Act, 1932 , or merchandise licences under the Road Transport Act, 1933 , or both, as may be appropriate, may be made by persons desiring to provide alternative road services.

(6) Where the Board does not propose to provide alternative road services the Board shall make available at some railway station in the affected area to persons interested in the provision of alternative road services particulars of the traffic carried by the train service which it is proposed to terminate, or despatched from or received at the station which it is proposed to close as aforesaid, during the period of the latest twelve months for which such particulars are available. The notice shall indicate that such particulars will be made available at some specified station.

20. —Section 21 of the Act of 1950, as extended by section 6 of the Act of 1955, which provides for the abandonment of railway lines, shall apply to a railway line or section over which all train services have been terminated by the Board.

21. —Whenever all services of trains, over any railway line or section of railway line to which section 9 of the Railways Act, 1933 , applies, have been terminated the Minister may, notwithstanding that the provisions of that section have not been complied with, make an order under section 110 of the Transport Act, 1944 , authorising the abandonment of that line or section.

22. —(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section 21 of the Act of 1950 or in any other enactment, a railway company may sell any land under or adjoining an abandoned railway line by private treaty to a local authority or public utility undertaking.

(2) In this section—

“local authority” has the meaning given to it by section 2 of the Local Government Act, 1941 ;

“public utility undertaking” means any authority or company which carries on an electricity or gas undertaking and any board or body established by Saorstát Éireann statute or Act of the Oireachtas.

23. —(1) The Board may close to navigation any canal or part of a canal belonging to it which has not been used for public navigation for three years or more.

(2) The Board shall not close any canal or part of a canal unless, at least two months before doing so, the Board has published in Iris Oifigiúil and in such newspapers, circulating in the district in which the canal or part thereof is situate, as the Board thinks proper, notice of its intention to do so.

(3) Such closure shall not release the Board from any obligations (including obligations in regard to drainage or the prevention of flooding) to which the Board may be liable in regard to that canal or part, other than the obligation to keep it open and in a fit condition for navigation.

(4) The Board and the road authority within whose functional area any bridge over the canal or part so closed is situate may enter into an agreement for the transfer of the bridge and the obligation to maintain it to that road authority, and may carry such agreement into effect.

(5) The functions of a road authority under subsection (4) shall be a reserved function for the purposes of the enactments relating to that authority.

(6) In this section, “canal” has the meaning given to it by section 3 of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1873.