2.—(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

F1[“accident” means an unwanted or unintended sudden event or a specific chain of such events which have harmful consequences; accidents are divided into the following categories: collisions, derailments, level-crossing accidents, accidents to persons caused by rolling stock in motion, fires and others;]

F2[…]

F1[“causes” means actions, omissions, events or conditions, or a combination thereof, which led to an accident or incident, and includes a direct and immediate cause of the accident or incident including contributory factors relating to actions taken by persons involved or condition of the rolling stock or technical installations, underlying causes relating to skills, procedures or maintenance and root causes relating to the regulatory framework conditions and application of the safety management system;]

F3[“Commission” means Commission for Railway Regulation;]

F2[…]

“Council” means the Railway Safety Advisory Council established under section 82;

F2[…]

“establishment day” means the day appointed by the Minister under section 7 to be the establishment day for the purposes of Part 2;

F2[…]

F2[…]

F1[“extensive damage” means damage that can immediately be assessed by the Investigation Unit to cost at least €2 million in total;]

“functions” includes powers and duties and references to the performance of functions include, as respects powers and duties, references to the exercise of the powers and the carrying out of the duties;

“heritage railway” means a person who only operates train services or railway infrastructure of historical or touristic interest or such other person whom the Commission has by regulations under section 4(6) specified to be a heritage railway;

F1[“incident” means any occurrence, other than an accident or serious accident, associated with the operation of trains and affecting the safety of operation;]

“inspector” means a person appointed under section 73 to be an inspector;

“international service” means the operation of a railway service between the State and another state;

“intoxicant” includes alcohol and drugs and any combination of drugs or of drugs and alcohol;

F1[“investigation” means a process conducted for the purpose of accident and incident prevention which includes the gathering and analysis of information, the drawing of conclusions, including the determination of causes and, when appropriate, the making of safety recommendations;]

“investigation report” means a report published by the Investigation Unit of an investigation undertaken by it;

F1[“investigation unit” means the Railway Accident Investigation Unit established under Regulation 4 of the Regulations of 2014;

“investigator” has the meaning assigned to it in the Regulations of 2014;]

“local authority” has the meaning assigned to it by the Local Government Act 2001;

“medical practitioner” means a person registered in the General Register of Medical Practitioners;

“Minister” means Minister for Transport;

“operation” in relation to a F4[railway organisation], includes the operation of railway services or the operation of railway infrastructure, or both, and any other ancillary activities;

“public road” means a road over which a public right of way exists and the responsibility for the maintenance of which lies on a road authority;

“qualified person” and “suitably qualified person” shall be construed in accordance with section 49(18);

“railway” means—

(a) a railway which has a gauge of not less than 350 mm and which is used for the carrying of fare-paying passengers, or fee-paying members, or the conveyance of merchandise,

(b) any part of such other railway that has a physical interface with a railway mentioned in paragraph (a), or a physical interface with a public road, or

(c) any other infrastructure that may be specified by the Commission under section 4;

F5[…]

“railway infrastructure” means the fixed assets used for the operation of a railway including, but not limited to, rail track, railway stations, permanent way and plant used for signalling or exclusively for supplying electricity for operational purposes to the railway;

F2[…]

“railway property” has the meaning assigned to it by section 73(15);

F6["railway organisation" means—

(a) an organisation with responsibility in operating:

(i) a metro, tram or other light railway system,

(ii) a heritage railway, museum railway or tourist railway that operates on its own network, including workshops, vehicles and staff,

(iii) a heritage railway that runs on the railway system in the State,

(b) a railway undertaking or an infrastructure manager to which the European Union (Railway Safety) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 476 of 2020) apply except in the case of sections 39, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 50 of this Act, or

(c) any other person who operates a railway;]

“record” means any memorandum, book, plan, map, drawing, diagram, pictorial or graphic work or other document, any photograph, film or recording (whether of sound or images or both), any form F7[…] (including machine-readable form) or thing in which information is held or stored manually, mechanically or electronically and any thing that is a part or a copy, in any form, of any of the foregoing or is a combination of two or more of the foregoing;

F1[“Regulations of 2014” means European Union (Railway Safety) (Reporting and Investigation of Serious Accidents, Accidents and Incidents) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 258 of 2014);

“Regulations of 2013” means European Union (Railway Safety) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 444 of 2013);

“Regulations of 2008” means European Union (Railway Safety) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No. 61 of 2008);]

F8[“reportable accident or incident” means a railway accident or incident that is required to be reported to the Investigation Unit and to the Commission in accordance with Regulation 7 of the Regulations of 2014.]

“road authority” means—

(a) in the case of a national road, the National Roads Authority, and

(b) in the case of a regional or local road, the city, county, borough or town council, in whose administrative area the road is located;

“rolling stock”, in relation to a railway, means any train or any other vehicle with flanged wheels which is designed to operate on a railway;

F9["safety management certificate" means a safety management certificate issued under section 46(1)(a);]

“F10[safety management document]” shall be construed in accordance with section 39;

F1[“serious accident” means any train collision or derailment of trains, resulting in the death of at least one person or serious injuries to five or more persons or extensive damage to rolling stock, the infrastructure or the environment, and any other similar accident with an obvious impact on railway safety regulation or the management of safety;]

“train” means a vehicle with flanged wheels designed to operate on a railway for whatever purpose, and includes carriages and rolling stock.

F2[…]

(2) In this Act—

(a) a reference to a section, Part or Schedule is a reference to a section or Part of or Schedule to this Act unless it is indicated that a reference to some other enactment is intended,

(b) a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended, and

(c) a reference to an enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by any subsequent enactment including this Act.

F11[(3) F12[…]]

F13[(4) In this Act, a reference to accident is to be read as a reference to a serious accident when the investigation of a serious accident is being carried out.]