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Regulation of Railways Act 1868

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Citation
  
31 & 32 Vict c 119

Royal assent
  
31 July 1868

Territorial extent
  
United Kingdom

Regulation of Railways Act 1868

Long title
  
An Act to amend the Law relating to Railways.

The Regulation of Railways Act 1868 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is one of the Railway Regulation Acts 1840 to 1893.

It was enacted following the first murder on the railways, that of Thomas Briggs by Franz Muller near Hackney in 1864.

The Act made new provisions for:

  • ensuring a method was available for allowing passengers to communicate with the train's guard, if the train was scheduled to travel more than 20 miles without stopping;
  • establishing a fine for passengers raising the alarm without due cause (warnings of this fact still routinely appear near train emergency alarms);
  • removing trees near railway lines that might fall and block the train;
  • a penalty for trespassing on the railway.

    • Despite the legislation, it was not until 1899 that internal emergency wires came to be used on the majority of trains.

    References

    Regulation of Railways Act 1868 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA