The Railways Act, 1989

(1) This Act may be called the Railways Act, 1989. (2) It shall come into force on such date1as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint: Provided that different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act, and any referencein any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the cominginto force of that provision.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (1) "authorised" means authorised by a railway administration; 1[(1A) "Authority" means the Rail Land Development Authority constituted under section 4A;] (2) "carriage" means the carriage of passengers or goods by a railway administration; (3) "Claims Tribunal" means the Railway Claims Tribunal established under section 3 of theRailway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 (54 of 1987); (4) "classification" means the classification of commodities made under section 31 for thepurpose of determining the rates to be charged for carriage of such commodities; (5) "class rates" means the rate fixed for a class of commodity in the classification; (6) "Commissioner" means the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety or the Commissioner ofRailway Safety appointed under section 5; (7) "commodity" means a specific item of goods; 2[(7A) competent authority means any person authorised by the Central Government, bynotification, to perform the functions of the competent authority for such area as may be specified inthe notification;] (8) "consignee"means the person named as consignee in a railway receipt; (9) "consignment" means goods entrusted to a railway administration for carriage; (10) "consignor" means the person, named in a railway receipt as consignor, by whom or onwhose behalf goods covered by the railway receipt are entrusted to a railway administration forcarriage; (11) "demurrage" means the charge levied for the detention of any rolling stock after the expiryof free time, if any, allowed for such detention; (12) "endorsee" means the person in whose favour an endorsement is made, and in the case ofsuccessive endorsements, the person in whose favour the last endorsement is made; (13) "endorsement" means the signing by the consignee or the endorsee after adding a directionon a railway receipt to pass the property in the goods mentioned in such receipt to a specified person; (14) "fare" means the charge levied for the carriage of passengers; (15) "ferry" includes a bridge of boats, pontoons or rafts, a swing bridge, a fly-bridge and atemporary bridge and the approaches to, and landing places of, a ferry; (16) "forwarding note" means the document executed under section 64; (17) "freight" means the charge levied for the carriage of goods including transhipment charges,if any; (18) "General Manager" means the General Manager of a Zonal Railway appointed undersection 4; (19) goods includes (i) containers, pallets or similar articles of transport used to consolidate goods; and (ii) animals; (20) "Government railway" means a railway owned by the Central Government; (21) "in transit", in relation to the carriage of goods by railway, means the period between thecommencement and the termination of transit of such goods, and unless otherwise previouslydetermined (a) transit commences as soon as the railway receipt is issued or the consignment is loaded,whichever is earlier; (b) transit terminates on the expiry of the free time allowed for unloading of consignmentfrom any rolling stock and where such unloading has been completed within such free time,transit terminates on the expiry of the free time allowed, for the removal of the goods from therailway premises; (22) "level crossing" means an inter-section of a road with lines of rails at the same level; (23) "luggage" means the goods of a passenger either carried by him in his charge or entrusted toa railway administration for carriage; (24) "lump sum rate" means the rate mutually agreed upon between a railway administration anda consignor for the carriage of goods and for any service in relation to such carriage; (25) "non-Government railway" means a railway other than a Government railway; (26) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette; 3[(26A) officer authorised means an officer authorised by the Central Government undersub-section (2) of section 179;] (27) "parcel" means goods entrusted to a railway administration for carriage by a passenger or aparcel train; (28) "pass" means an authority given by the Central Government or a railway administration to aperson allowing him to travel as a passenger, but does not include a ticket; (29) "passenger" means a person travelling with a valid pass or ticket; 4[(29A) person interested includes,-- (i) all persons claiming an interest in compensation to be made on account of the acquisitionof land under this Act; (ii) tribals and other traditional forest dwellers, who have lost anytraditional rights recognised under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (2 of 2007); (iii) a person interested in an easement affecting the land; and (iv) persons having tenancy rights under the relevant State laws;] (30) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (31) "railway" means a railway, or any portion of a railway, for the public carriage of passengersor goods, and includes (a) all lands within the fences or other boundary marks indicating the limits of the landappurtenant to a railway; (b) all lines of rails, sidings, or yards, or branches used for the purposes of, or in connectionwith, a railway; (c) all electric traction equipments, power supply and distribution installations used for thepurposes of, or in connection with, a railway; (d) all rolling stock, stations, offices, warehouses, wharves, workshops, manufactories, fixedplant and machinery, roads and streets, running rooms, rest houses, institutes, hospitals, waterworks and water supply installations, staff dwellings and any other works constructed for thepurpose of, or in connection with, railway; (e) all vehicles which are used on any road for the purposes of traffic of a railway and owned,hired or worked by a railway; and (f) all ferries, ships, boats and rafts which are used on any canal, river, lake or other navigableinland waters for the purposes of the traffic of a railway and owned, hired or worked by a railwayadministration,but does not include-- (i) a tramway wholly within a municipal area; and (ii) lines of rails built in any exhibition ground, fair, park, or any other place solely for thepurpose of recreation; (32) "railway administration", in relation to-- (a) a Government railway, means the General Manager of a Zonal Railway; and (b) a non-Government railway, means the person who is the owner or lessee of the railway orthe person working the railway under an agreement; 5[(32A) "railway land" means any land in which a Government railway has any right, title orinterest;] (33) "railway receipt" means the receipt issued under section 65; (34) "railway servant" means any person employed by the Central Government or by a railwayadministration in connection with the service of a railway 6[including member of the RailwayProtection Force appointed under clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Railway ProtectionForce Act, 1957 (23 of 1957);] (35) "rate" includes any fare, freight or any other charge for the carriage of any passenger orgoods; (36) "regulations" means the regulations made by the Railway Rates Tribunal under this Act; (37) "rolling stock" includes locomotives, lenders, carriages, wagons, rail-cars, containers, trucks,trolleys and vehicles of all kinds moving on rails; 7[(37A) "special railway project" means a project notified as such by the Central Governmentfrom time to time, for providing national infrastructure for a public purpose in a specified time-frame,covering one or more States or the Union territories;] (38) "station to station rate" means a special reduced rate applicable to a specific commoditybooked between specified stations; (39) "traffic" includes rolling stock of every description, as well as passengers and goods; 8[(40) Tribunal means the Tribunal referred to in section 33;] (41) wharfage means the charge levied on goods for not removing them from the railway afterthe expiry of the free time for such removal; (42) "Zonal Railway" means a Zonal Railway constituted under section 3.

(1) The Central Government may, for the purpose of the efficientadministration of the Government railways, by notification constitute such railways into as many ZonalRailways as it may deem fit and specify in such notification the names and headquarters of such ZonalRailways and the areas in respect of which they shall exercise jurisdiction. (2) The Zonal Railway existing immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed tobe Zonal Railways constituted under sub-section (1). (3) The Central Government may, by notification, declare any unit of the railways engaged inresearch, development, designing, construction or production of rolling stock, its parts or other equipmentused on a railway, to be a Zonal Railway. (4) The Central Government may, by notification, abolish any Zonal Railway or constitute any newZonal Railway out of any existing Zonal Railway or Zonal Railways, change the name or headquarters ofany Zonal Railway or determine the areas in respect of which a Zonal Railway shall exercise jurisdiction.

(1) The Central Government shall, by notification, appointa person to be the General Manager of a Zonal Railway. (2) The general superintendence and control of a Zonal Railway shall vest in the General Manager.

1[4A. Establishment of Railway Land Development Authority.-- The Central Government may, bynotification, establish an authority to be called the Rail Land Development Authority to exercise thepowers and discharge the functions conferred on it by or under this Act.