THE RAILWAYS ACT, 1890 ( ACT NO. IX OF 1890 ), PART 1

1. (1) This Act may be called the Railway Act, 1890.

(2) It extends to the whole of Bangladesh and applies also to all citizens of Bangladesh, wherever they may be.

(3) It shall come into force on the first day of May, 1890.

2. [Repealed by the Repealing Act, 1938 (Act No. I of 1938), section 2 and Schedule.]

3. In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context,-

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(2) “ferry” includes a bridge of boats, pontoons or rafts, a swing-bridge, a flying bridge and a temporary bridge, and the approaches to, and landing places of, a ferry:

(3) “inland water” means any canal, river, lake or navigable water:

(4) the railway means the railway or any portion of the railway, for the public carriage of passengers, animals or goods, and includes

(a) all land within the fences or other boundary-marks indicating the limits of the land appurtenant to the railway;

(b) all lines of rails, sidings, or branches worked over for the purposes of, or in connection with, the railway;

(c) all stations, offices, warehouses, wharves, workshops, manufactories, fixed plant and machinery and other works constructed for the purposes of, or in connection with, the railway; and

(d) all ferries, ships, boats and rafts which are used on inland waters for the purposes of the traffic of the railway and belong to or are hired or worked by the authority administering the railway:

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⁴[(6) “railway administration” or “administration” means the manager of the Bangladesh railway and includes the Government.]

(7) “the railway servant” means any person employed by the railway administration in connection with the service of the railway:

(8) Inspector” means an Inspector of the railway appointed under this Act:

(9) goods” includes inanimate things of every kind:

(10) “rolling-stock” includes locomotive engines, tenders, carriages, wagons, trucks and trollies of all kinds:

(11) “traffic” includes rolling-stock of every description, as well as passengers, animals and goods:

(12) “through traffic” means traffic which is carried over the railway of two or more the railway administration.

(13) “rate” includes any fare, charge or other payment for the carriage of any passenger, animal or goods:

(14) “terminals” includes charges in respect of stations, sidings, wharves, depots, warehouses, cranes and other similar matters, and of any services rendered thereat:

(15) “pass” means an authority given by the railway administration, or by an officer appointed by the railway administration in this behalf, and authorising the person to whom it is given to travel as a passenger on the railway gratuitously:

(16) “ticket” includes a single ticket, a return ticket and a season ticket:

(17) “maund” means a weight of three thousand two hundred tolas, each tola being a weight of one hundred and eighty grains Troy: and

(18) “Collector” means the chief officer in charge of the land- revenue administration of a district, and includes any officer specially appointed by the Government to discharge the functions of a Collector under this Act.

4. (1) The Government may appoint persons, by name or by virtue of their office, to be inspectors of the railway.

(2) The duties of an Inspector of the railway shall be-

(a) to inspect the railway with a view to determine whether they are fit to be opened for the public carriage of passengers, and to report thereon to the Government as required by this Act;

(b) to make such periodical or other inspections of any railway or of any rolling-stock used thereon as the Government may direct;

(c) to make inquiry under this Act into the cause of any accident on the railway;

(d) to perform such other duties as are imposed on him by this Act, or any other enactment for the time being in force relating to the railway.

5. An Inspector shall, for the purpose of any of the duties which he is required or authorised to perform under this Act, be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the ⁵[Penal Code], and, subject to the control of the Government, shall for that purpose have the following powers, namely:-

(a) to enter upon and inspect any railway or any rolling-stock used thereon;

(b) by an order in writing under his hand addressed to the railway administration, to require the attendance before him of any railway servant, and to require answers or returns to such inquiries as he thinks fit to make from such railway servant or from the railway administration;

(c) to require the production of ⁶[the] book or document belonging to or in the possession or control of any railway administration ⁷[* * *] which it appears to him to be necessary to inspect.

6. The railway administration shall afford to the Inspector all reasonable facilities for performing the duties and exercising the powers imposed and conferred upon him by this Act.

7. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and, in the case of immoveable property not belonging to the railway administration, to the provisions of any enactment for the time being in force for the acquisition of land for public purposes

⁸[* * *] the railway administration may, for the purpose of constructing the railway or the accommodation or other works connected therewith, and notwithstanding anything in any other enactment for the time being in force,-

(a) make or construct in, upon, across, under or over any lands, or, any streets, hills, valleys, roads, the railway ⁹[* * *] or any rivers, canals, brooks, streams or other waters, or any drains, water-pipes, gas-pipes or telegraph lines, such temporary or permanent inclined planes, arches, tunnels, culverts, embankments, aqueducts, bridges, roads, lines of the railway, ways, passages, conduits, drains, piers, cuttings and fences as the railway administration thinks proper;

(b) alter the course of any rivers, brooks, streams, or watercourses, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining tunnels, bridges, passages or other works over or under them, and divert or alter, as well temporarily as permanently, the course of any rivers, brooks, streams or watercourses or any roads, streets or ways, or raise or sink the level thereof, in order the more conveniently to carry them over or under or by the side or the railway, as the railway administration thinks proper;

(c) make drains or conduits into, through or under any lands adjoining the railway for the purpose of conveying water from or to the railway;

(d) erect and construct such houses, warehouses, offices and other buildings, and such yards, stations, wharves, engines, machinery, apparatus and other works and conveniences as the railway administration thinks proper;

(e) alter, repair or discontinue such buildings, works and conveniences as aforesaid or any of them and substitute others in their stead; and

(f) do all other acts necessary for making, maintaining, altering or repairing and using the railway.

(2) The exercise of the powers conferred on the railway administration by sub-section (1) shall be subject to the control of the Government.

8. The railway administration may, for the purpose of exercising the powers conferred upon it by this Act, alter the position of any pipe for the supply of gas, water or compressed air or the position of any electric wire or of any drain not being a main drain:

Provided that-

(a) when the railway administration desires to alter the position of any such pipe, wire or drain, it shall give reasonable notice of its intention to do so, and of the time at which it will begin to do so, to the Local authority or company having control over the pipe, wire or drain, or, when the pipe, wire or drain is not under the control of a local authority or company, to the person under whose control the pipe, wire or drain is;

(b) a local authority, company or person receiving notice under proviso (a) may send a person to superintend the work, and the railway administration shall execute the work to the reasonable satisfaction of the person so sent and shall make arrangements for continuing during the execution of the work the supply of gas, water, compressed air or electricity or the maintenance of the drainage, as the case may be.

¹⁰[8A. Nothing in the two last preceding sections shall authorise the doing of anything on or to any works, land or building vested in, or in possession of, the Government without its consent.]

9. (1) The Government may authorise any railway administration, in case of any slip or other accident happening or being apprehended to any cutting, embankment or other work under the control of the railway administration, to enter upon any lands adjoining its railway for the purpose of repairing or preventing the accident, and to do all such works as may be necessary for the purpose.

(2) In case of necessity the railway administration may enter upon the lands and do the works aforesaid without having obtained the previous sanction of the Government, but in such a case shall, within seventy-two hours after such entry, make a report to the Government, specifying the nature of the accident or apprehended accident, and of the works necessary to be done, and the power conferred on the railway administration by this sub-section shall cease and determine if the Government, after considering the report, considers that the exercise of the power is not necessary for the public safety.

10. (1) The railway administration shall do as little damage as possible in the exercise of the powers conferred by any of the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, and compensation shall be paid for any damage caused by the exercise thereof.

(2) A suit shall not lie to recover such compensation, but in case of dispute the amount thereof shall, on application to the Collector, be determined and paid in accordance, so far as may be, with the provisions of sections 11 to 15, both inclusive, sections 18 to 34, both inclusive, and sections 53 and 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and the provisions of sections 51 and 52 of that Act shall apply to the award of compensation.

11. (1) The railway administration shall make and maintain the following works for the accommodation of the owners and occupiers of lands adjoining the railway, namely:-

(a) such and so many convenient crossings, bridges, arches, culverts and passages over, under or by the sides of, or leading to or from, the railway as may, in the opinion of the Government, be necessary for the purpose of making good any interruptions caused by the railway to the use of the lands through which the railway is made, and

(b) all necessary arches, tunnels, culverts, drains, water courses or other passages, over or under or by the sides of the railway, of such dimensions as will, in the opinion of the Government, be sufficient at all times to convey water as freely from or to the lands lying near or affected by the railway as before the making of the railway, or as nearly so as may be.

(2) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the work specified in clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (1) shall be made during or immediately after the laying out or formation of the railway over the lands traversed thereby and in such manner as to cause as little damage or inconvenience as possible to person interested in the lands or affected by the works.

(3) The foregoing provisions of this section are subject to the following provisos, namely:-

(a) the railway administration shall not be required to make any accommodation works in such a manner as would prevent or obstruct the working or using of the railway, or to make any accommodation works with respect to which the owners and occupiers of the lands have agreed to receive and have been paid compensation in consideration of their not requiring the works to be made;

(b) save as hereinafter in this Chapter provided, the railway administration shall not, except on the requisition of the Government, be compelled to defray the cost of executing any further or additional accommodation works for the use of the owners or occupiers of the lands after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the railway passing through the lands was first opened for public traffic;

(c) where the railway administration has provided suitable accommodation for the crossing of a road or stream, and the road or stream is afterwards diverted by the act or neglect of the person having the control thereof, the administration shall not be compelled to provide other accommodation for the crossing of the road or stream.

(4) The Government may appoint a time for the commencement of any work to be executed under sub-section (1), and if for fourteen days next after that time the railway administration fails to commence the work or, having commenced it, fails to proceed diligently to execute it in a sufficient manner, the Government may execute it and recover from the railway adminisration the cost incurred by it in the execution thereof.

12. If an owner or occupier of any land affected by the railway considers the works made under the last foregoing section to be insufficient for the commodious use of the land, or if the Government or a local authority desires to construct a public road or other work across, under or over the railway, he or it, as the case may be, may at any time require the railway administration to make at his or its expense such further accommodation works as he or it thinks necessary and are agreed to by the railway administration or as, in case of difference of opinion, may be authorised by the Government.

13. The Government may require that, within a time to be specified in the requisition, or within such further time as it may appoint in this behalf,-

(a) boundary-marks or fences be provided or renewed by the railway administration for the railway or any part thereof and for roads constructed in connection therewith;

(b) any works in the nature of a screen near to or adjoining the side of any public road constructed before the making of the railway be provided or renewed by a railway administration for the purpose of preventing danger to passengers on the road by reason of horses or other animals being frightened by the sight or noise of the rolling-stock moving on the railway;

(c) suitable gates, chains, bars, stiles or hand-rails be erected or renewed by the railway administration at places where the railway crosses a public road on the level;

(d) persons be employed by the railway administration to open and shut such gates, chains or bars.

14. (1) Where the railway administration has constructed the railway across a public road on the level, the Government may at any time, if it appears to it necessary for the public safety, require the railway administration, within such time as it thinks fit, to carry the road either under or over the railway by means of a bridge or arch, with convenient ascents and descents and other convenient approaches, instead of crossing the road on the level, or to execute such other works as, in the circumstances of the case, may appear to the Government to be best adapted for removing or diminishing the danger arising from the level-crossing.

(2) The Government may require as a condition of making a requisition under sub-section (1), that the local authority, if any, which maintains the road, shall undertake to pay the whole of the cost to the railway administration of complying with the requisition or such portion of the cost as the Government thinks just.

15. (1) In either of the following cases, namely:-

(a) where there is danger that a tree standing near the railway may fall on the railway so as to obstruct traffic,

(b) when a tree obstructs the view of any fixed signal, the railway administration may, with the permission of any Magistrate, fell the tree or deal with it in such other manner as will in the opinion of the railway administration avert the danger or remove the obstruction, as the case may be.

(2) In case of emergency the power mentioned in sub-section (1) may be exercised by the railway administration without the permission of a Magistrate.

(3) Where a tree felled or otherwise dealt with under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) was in existence before the railway was constructed or the signal was fixed, any Magistrate may, upon the application of the persons interested in the tree, award to those persons such compensation as he thinks reasonable.

(4) Such an award, subject, where made by any Magistrate other than the District Magistrate, to revision by the District Magistrate, shall be final.

(5) A Civil Court shall not entertain a suit to recover compensation for any tree felled or otherwise dealt with under this section.

16. (1) The railway administration may, with the previous sanction of the Government, use upon the railway locomotive engines or other motive power, and rolling-stock to be drawn or propelled thereby(2) But rolling-stock shall not be moved upon the railway by steam or other motive power until such general rules for the railway as may be deemed to be necessary have been made, sanctioned and published under this Act.

17. (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), the railway administration shall, one month at least before it intends to open any railway for the public carriage of passengers, give to the Government notice in writing of its intention.

(2) The Government may, in any case, if it thinks fit, reduce the period of, or dispense with, the notice mentioned in sub-section (1).

18. The railway shall not be opened for the public carriage of passengers until the Government, or an Inspector empowered by the Government, in this behalf, has by order sanctioned the opening thereof for that purpose.

19. (1) The sanction of the Government under the last foregoing section shall not be given until an Inspector has, after inspection of the railway, reported in writing to the Government-

(a) that he has made a careful inspection of the railway and rolling-stock;

(b) that the moving and fixed dimensions prescribed by the Government have not been infringed;

(c) that the weight of rails, strength of bridges, general structural character of the works, and the size of and maximum gross load upon the axles of any rolling-stock are such as have been prescribed by the Government;

(d) that the railway is sufficiently supplied with rolling-stock;

(e) that general rules for the working of the railway when opened for the public carriage of passengers have been made, sanctioned and published under this Act; and

(f) that in his opinion, the railway can be opened for the public carriage of passengers without danger to the public using it.

(2) If in the opinion of the Inspector the railway cannot be so opened without danger to the public using it, he shall state that opinion, together with the grounds therefor, to the Government, and the Government may thereupon order the railway administration to postpone the opening of the railway.

(3) An order under the last foregoing sub-section must set forth the requirements to be complied with as a condition precedent to the opening of the railway being sanctioned, and shall direct the postponement of the opening of the railway until those requirements have been complied with or the Government is otherwise satisfied that the railway can be opened without danger to the public using it.

(4) The sanction given under this section may be either absolute or subject to such conditions as the Government thinks necessary for the safety of the public.

(5) When sanction for the opening of the railway is given subject to conditions, and the railway administration fails to fulfil those conditions, the sanction shall be deemed to be void and the railway shall not be worked or used until the conditions are fulfiled to the satisfaction of the Government.

20. (1) The provisions of sections 17, 18 and 19 with respect to the opening of the railway shall extend to the opening of the works mentioned in sub-section (2) when those works form part of, or are directly connected with, the railway used for the public carriage of passengers and have been constructed after the inspection which preceded the first opening of the railway.

(2) The works referred to in sub-section (1) are additional lines of railway, deviation lines, stations, junctions and crossings on the level, and any alteration or re-construction materially affecting the structural character of any work to which the provisions of sections 17, 18 and 19 apply or are extended by this section.

21. When an accident has occurred resulting in a temporary suspension of traffic, and either the original line and works have been rapidly restored to their original standard, or a temporary diversion has been laid for the purpose of restoring communication, the original line and works so restored, or the temporary diversion, as the case may be, may, in the absence of the Inspector, be opened for the public carriage of passengers, subject to the following conditions, namely:-

(a) that the railway servant in charge of the works undertaken by reason of the accident has certified in writing that the opening of the restored line and works, or of the temporary diversion, will not in his opinion be attended with danger to the public using the line and works of the diversion; and

(b) that notice by telegraph of the opening of the line and works or the diversion shall be sent, as soon as may be, to the Inspector appointed for the railway.

22. The Government may make rules defining the cases in which, and in those cases the extent to which, the procedure prescribed in sections 17 to 20 (both inclusive) may be dispensed with.

23. (1) When, after inspecting any open railway used for the public carriage of passengers, or any rolling-stock used thereon, an Inspector is of opinion that the use of the railway or of any specified rolling-stock will be attended with danger to the public using it, he shall state that opinion, together with the grounds therefor, to the Government; and the Government may thereupon order that the railway be closed for the public carriage of passengers, or that the use of the rolling-stock so specified be discontinued, or that the railway or the rolling-stock so specified be used for the public carriage of passengers on such conditions only as the Government may consider necessary for the safety of the public.

(2) An order under sub-section (1) must set forth the grounds on which it is founded.

24. (1) When the railway has been closed under the last foregoing section, it shall not be re-opened for the public carriage of passengers until it has been inspected and its re-opening sanctioned, in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

(2) When the Government has ordered under the last foregoing section that the use of any specified rolling-stock be discontinued, that rolling-stock shall not be used until an Inspector has reported that it is fit for use and the Government has sanctioned its use.

(3) When the Government has imposed under the last foregoing section any conditions with respect to the use of any railway or rolling-stock, those conditions shall be observed until they are withdrawn by the Government.

25. (1) The Government may, by general or special order, authorise the discharge of any of its functions under this Chapter by an Inspector, and may cancel any sanction or order given by an Inspector discharging any such function or attach thereto any condition which the Government might have imposed if the sanction or order had been given by itself.

(2) A condition imposed under sub-section (1) shall for all the purposes of this Act have the same effect as if it were attached to a sanction or order given by the Government.

26-40. [Repealed by the Government of India (Adaptation of Indian Laws) Order, 1937.]

41. Except as provided in this Act, no suit shall be instituted or proceeding taken for anything done or any omission made by the railway administration in violation or contravention of any provision of this Chapter.

42. ¹¹[(1) The railway administration shall afford all reasonable facilities for the receiving, forwarding and delivering of traffic upon and from railways and for the return of rolling-stock.]

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¹³[42A. (1) The railway administration shall not make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to, or in favour of, any particular person ¹⁴[* * *], or any particular description of traffic, in any respect whatsoever, or subject any particular person ¹⁵[* * *] or any particular description of traffic to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever.

¹⁶[42B. (1) The Government may by general or special order fix maximum and minimum rates for the whole or any part of the railway, and prescribe the conditions in which such rates will apply.

(2) Any complaint that the railway administration is contravening any order issued by the Government in accordance with the provisions of this section shall be determined by ¹⁷[it].]

43. (1) Whenever it is shown that the railway administration charges one trade or class of traders or the traders in any ¹⁸[* * *] area lower rates for the same or similar animals or goods, or lower rates for the same or similar services, than it charges to other traders or classes of traders or to the traders in another ¹⁹[* * *] area, the burden of proving that such lower charge does not amount to an undue preference shall lie on the railway administration.

(2) In deciding whether a lower charge does or does not amount to an undue preference, the Government may, so far as it thinks reasonable, in addition to any other considerations affecting the case, take into consideration whether such lower charge is necessary for the purpose of securing, in the interests of the public, the traffic in respect of which it is made.

44. Where the railway administration is a party to an agreement for procuring the traffic of the railway to be carried on any inland water by any ferry, ship, boat or raft which does not belong to or is not hired or worked by the railway administration, the provisions of the two last foregoing sections applicable to the railway shall extend to the ferry, ship, boat or raft in so far as it is used for the purposes of the traffic of the railway.

45. The railway administration may charge reasonable terminals.

46. (1) The Government shall decide any question or dispute which may arise with respect to the terminals charged by the railway administration.

(2) In deciding the question or dispute, the Government shall have regard only to the expenditure reasonably necessary to provide the accommodation in respect of which the terminals are charged irrespective of the outlay which may have been actually incurred by the railway administration in providing that accommodation.

²⁰[46A. Any decision given by the Government, in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter, shall be final and binding on all parties concerned.]

46B. [Omitted by the Schedule of the Adaptation of Central Acts and Ordinances Order, 1949.]

47. (1) ²¹[The railway administration or], an officer to be appointed by the Government in this behalf, shall make general rules consistent with this Act for the following purposes, namely:-

(a) for regulating the mode in which, and the speed at which, rolling-stock used on the railway is to be moved or propelled;

(b) for providing for the accommodation and convenience of passengers and regulating the carriage of their luggage;

(c) for declaring what shall be deemed to be, for the purposes of this Act, dangerous or offensive goods, and for regulating the carriage of such goods;

(d) for regulating the conditions on which the railway administration will carry passengers suffering from infectious or contagious disorders, and providing for the disinfection of carriages which have been used by such passengers;

(e) for providing for and regulating the duties of the railway servants in relation to train operations;

(f) for regulating the terms and conditions on which the railway administration will warehouse or retain goods at any station on behalf of the consignee or owner; and

(g) generally, for regulating the travelling upon, and the use, working and management of, the railway.

(2) The rules made under sub-section (1) may provide that any person committing a breach of any of those rules, except those falling under clause (e) of that sub-section, shall be punished with fine which may extend to any sum not exceeding fifty Taka.

(3) A rule made under this section shall not take effect until it has received the sanction of the Government and been published in the official Gazette:

Provided that-

(a) [Omitted by Article 2 and Schedule of the Central Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1961.]

(b) where the rule is in the terms of a rule which has already been published at length in the official Gazette, a notification in that Gazette referring to the rule already published and announcing the adoption thereof, shall be deemed a publication of a rule in the official Gazette within the meaning of this sub-section.

(4) [Omitted by Article 2 and Schedule of the Central Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1961.]

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(6) The railway administration shall keep at each station on its railway a copy of the general rules for the time being in force under this section on the railway, and shall allow any person to inspect it free of charge at all reasonable times.

48-51A. [Omitted by section 3 and 2nd Schedule of the Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973 (Act No. VIII of 1973).]

52. The railway administration shall, in forms to be prescribed by the Government, prepare, half-yearly or at such intervals as the Government may prescribe, such returns of its capital and revenue transactions and of its traffic as the Government may require, and shall forward a copy of such returns to the Government at such times as it may direct.

53. (1) The railway administration shall determine the maximum load for every wagon or truck in its possession, and shall exhibit the words or figures representing the load so determine in a conspicuous manner on the outside of every such wagon or truck.

(2) Every person owning a wagon or truck which passes over the railway shall similarly determine and exhibit the maximum load for the wagon or truck.

(3) The gross weight of any such wagon or truck bearing on the axles when the wagon or truck is loaded to such maximum load shall not exceed such limit as may be fixed by the Government for the class of axle under the wagon or truck.

54. (1) Subject to the control of the Government, the railway administration may impose conditions, not inconsistent with this Act or with any general rule thereunder, with respect to the receiving, forwarding or delivering of any animals or goods.

(2) The railway administration shall keep at each station on its railway a copy of the conditions for the time being in force under sub-section (1) at the station, and shall allow any person to inspect it free of charge at all reasonable times.

(3) The railway administration shall not be bound to carry animal suffering from any infectious or contagious disorder.

55. (1) If a person fails to pay on demand made by or on behalf of the railway administration any rate, terminal or other charge due from him in respect of any animals or goods, the railway administration may detain the whole or any of the animals or goods or, if they have been removed from the railway, any other animals or goods of such person then being in or thereafter coming into its possession.

(2) When any animals or goods have been detained under sub-section (1), the railway administration may sell by public auction, in the case of perishable goods at once, and in the case of other goods or of animals on the expiration of at least fifteen days’ notice of the intended auction, published in one or more of the local newspapers, or where there are no such newspapers, in such manner as the Government may prescribe, sufficient of such animals or goods to produce a sum equal to the charge, and all expenses of such detention, notice and sale, including, in the case of animals, the expenses of the feeding, watering and tending thereof.

(3) Out of the proceeds of the sale the railway administration may retain a sum equal to the charge and the expenses aforesaid, rendering the surplus, if any, of the proceeds, and such of the animals or goods (if any) as remain unsold, to the person entitled thereto.

(4) If a person on whom a demand for any rate, terminal or other charge due from him has been made fails to remove from the railway within a reasonable time any animals or goods which have been detained under sub-section (1) or any animals or goods which have remained unsold after a sale under sub-section (2), the railway administration may sell the whole of them and dispose of the proceeds of the sale as nearly as may be under the provisions of sub-section (3).

(5) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing sub-sections, the railway administration may recover by suit any such rate, terminal or other charge as aforesaid or balance thereof.

56. (1) When any animals or goods have come into the possession of the railway administration for carriage or otherwise and are not claimed by the owner or other person appearing to the railway administration to be entitled thereto, the railway administration shall, if such owner or person is known, cause a notice to be served upon him, requiring him to remove the animals or goods.

(2) If such owner or person is not known, or the notice cannot be served upon him, or he does not comply with the requisition in the notice, the railway administration may within a reasonable time, subject to the provisions of any other enactment for the time being in force, sell the animals or goods as nearly as may be under the provisions of the last foregoing section, rendering the surplus, if any, of the proceeds of the sale to any person entitled thereto.

57. Where any animals, goods or sale-proceeds in the possession of the railway administration are claimed by two or more persons, or the ticket or receipt given for the animals or goods is not forthcoming, the railway administration may withholds delivery of the animals, goods or sale-proceeds until the person entitled in its opinion to receive them has given an indemnity, to the satisfaction of the railway administration, against the claims of any other person with respect to the animals, goods or sale-proceeds.

58. (1) The owner or person having charge of any goods which are brought upon the railway for the purpose of being carried thereon, and the consignee of any goods which have been carried on the railway, shall, on the request of any railway servant appointed in this behalf by the railway administration, deliver to such servant an account in writing signed by such owner or person, or by such consignee, as the case may be, and containing such a description of the goods as may be sufficient to determine the rate which the railway administration is entitled to charge in respect thereof.

(2) If such owner, person or consignee refuses or neglects to give such an account, and refuses to open the parcel or package containing the goods in order that their description may be ascertained, the railway administration may, (a) in respect of goods which have been brought for the purpose of being carried on the railway, refuse to carry the goods unless in respect thereof a rate is paid not exceeding the highest rate which may be in force at the time on the railway for any class of goods or, (b) in respect of goods which have been carried on the railway, charge a rate not exceeding such highest rate.

(3) If an account delivered under sub-section (1) is materially false with respect to the description of any goods to which it purports to relate, and which have been carried on the railway, the railway administration may charge in respect or the carriage of the goods a rate not exceeding double the highest rate which may be in force at the time on the railway for any class of goods.

(4) If any difference arises between the railway servant and the owner or person having charge, or the consignee, of any goods which have been brought to be carried or have been carried on the railway, respecting the description of goods of which an account has been delivered under this section, the railway servant may detain and examine the goods.

(5) If it appears from the examination that the description of the goods is different from that stated in an account delivered under sub-section (1), the person who delivered the account, or, if that person is not the owner of the goods, then that person and the owner jointly and severally, shall be liable to pay to the railway administration the cost of the detention and examination of the goods, and the railway administration shall be exonerated from all responsibility for any loss which may have been caused by the detention or examination thereof.

(6) If it appears that the description of the goods is not different from that stated in an account delivered under sub-section (1), the railway administration shall pay the cost of the detention and examination, and be responsible to the owner of the goods for any such loss as aforesaid.

59. (1) No person shall be entitled to take with him, or to require the railway administration to carry, any dangerous or offensive goods upon the railway.

(2) No person shall take any such goods with him upon the railway without giving notice of their nature to the station-master or other railway servant in charge of the place where he brings the goods upon the railway, or shall tender or deliver any such goods for carriage upon the railway without distinctly marking their nature on the outside of the package containing them or otherwise giving notice in writing of their nature to the railway servant to whom he tenders or delivers them.

(3) Any railway servant may refuse to receive such goods for carriage, and, when such goods have been so received without such notice as is mentioned in sub-section (2) having to his knowledge been given, may refuse to carry them or may stop their transit.

(4) If any railway servant has reason to believe any such goods to be contained in a package with respect to the contents whereof such notice as is mentioned in sub-section (2) has not to his knowledge been given, he may cause the package to be opened for the purpose of ascertaining its contents.

(5) Nothing in this section shall be construed to derogate from the Explosives Act, 1884, or any rule under that Act, and nothing in sub-section (1), (3) and (4) shall be construed to apply to any goods tendered or delivered for carriage by order or on behalf of the Government or to any goods which an officer, soldier, sailor, airman or police-officer ²³[* * *] may take with him upon the railway in the course of his employment or duty as such.

60. At every station at which the railway administration quotes a rate to any other station for the carriage of traffic other than passengers and their luggage, the railway servant appointed by the administration to quote the rate shall, at the request of any person, show to him at all reasonable times, and without payment of any fee, the rate books or other documents in which the rate is authorised by the administration or administrations concerned.

61. (1) Where any charge is made by and paid to the railway administration in respect of the carriage of goods over its railway, the administration shall, on the application of the person by whom or on whose behalf the charge has been paid, render to the applicant an account showing how much of the charge comes under each of the following heads, namely:-

(a) the carriage of the goods on the railway;

(b) terminals;

(c) demurrage; and

(d) collection, delivery and other expenses;

but without particularizing the several items of which the charge under each head consists.

(2) The application under sub-section (1) must be in writing and be made to the railway administration within one month after the date of the payment of the charge by or on behalf of the applicant, and the account must be rendered by the administration within two months after the receipt of the application.

62. The Government may require any railway administration to provide and maintain in proper order, in any train worked by it which carries passengers, such efficient means of communication between the passengers and the railway servants in charge of the train as the Government has approved.

63. The railway administration shall fix, subject to the approval of the Government, the maximum number of passengers which may be carried in each compartment of every description of carriage, and shall exhibit the number so fixed in a conspicuous manner inside or outside each compartment, in English or in ²⁴[Bengali].

64. (1) One and after the first day of January, 1891, the railway administration shall, in every train carrying passengers, reserve for the exclusive use of females one compartments at least of the lowest class of carriage forming part of the train.

(2) One such compartment so reserved shall, if the train is to run for a distance exceeding fifty miles, be provided with a closet.

65. The railway administration shall cause to be posted in a conspicuous and accessible place at every station on its railway, in English and in ²⁵[Bengali], a copy of the time-tables for the time being in force on the railway, and lists of the fares chargeable for travelling from the station where the lists are posted to every place for which card-tickets are ordinarily issued to passengers at that station.

66. (1) Every person desirous of travelling on the railway shall, upon payment of his fare, be supplied with a ticket, specifying the class of carriage for which, and the place from and the place to which, the fare has been paid, and the amount of the fare.

²⁶[(2) The matters required by sub-section (1) to be specified on a ticket shall be set forth in Bengali or in English].

67. (1) Fares shall be deemed to be accepted, and tickets to be issued, subject to the condition of there being room available in the train for which the tickets are issued.

(2) A person to whom a ticket has been issued and for whom there is not room available in the train for which the ticket was issued shall on returning the ticket within three hours after the departure of the train be entitled to have his fare at once refunded.

(3) A person for whom there is not room available in the class of carriage for which he has purchased a ticket and who is obliged to travel in a carriage of a lower class shall be entitled on delivering up his ticket to a refund of the difference between the fare paid by him and the fare payable for the class of carriage in which he travelled.

68. (1) No person shall, without the permission of the railway servant, enter or remain in any carriage on the railway for the purpose of travelling therein as a passenger unless he has with him a proper pass or ticket.

(2) The railway servant when granting the permission referred to in sub-section (1) shall ordinarily, if empowered in this behalf by the railway administration, grant to the passenger a certificate that the passenger has been permitted to travel in such carriage upon condition that he subsequently pays the fare payable for the distance to be travelled.

69. Every passenger by the railway, shall, on the requisition of any railway servant appointed by the railway administration in this behalf, present his pass or ticket to the railway servant for examination, and at or near the end of the journey for which the pass or ticket was issued, or, in the case of a season pass or ticket, at the expiration of the period for which it is current, deliver up the pass or ticket to the railway servant.

70. A return ticket or season ticket shall not be transferable and may be used only by the person for whose journey to and from the places specified thereon it was issued.

71. (1) The railway administration may refuse to carry, except in accordance with the conditions prescribed under section 47, sub-section (1), clause (d), a person suffering from any infectious or contagious disorder.

(2) A person suffering from such a disorder shall not enter or travel upon the railway without the special permission of the station-master or other railway servant in charge of the place where he enters upon the railway.

(3) The railway servant giving such permission as is mentioned in sub-section (2) must arrange for the separation of the person suffering from the disorder from other persons being or travelling upon the railway.