Singapore legislation

Section 13

of Railways Act 1905

Section 13

Accommodation works

(1)

Every railway administration shall make and maintain the following works for the accommodation of the owners and occupiers of lands adjoining the railway:

(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 are in the opinion of the Minister 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;

(b)

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

(2)

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the works specified in subsection (1)(a) and (b) 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 persons interested in the lands or affected by the works.

(3)

Subsections (1) and (2) shall be subject to the following provisos:

(a)

a 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 land have agreed to receive and have been paid compensation in consideration of their not requiring the works to be made;

(b)

subject to the provisions of this Act, a railway administration shall not 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 10 years from the date on which the railway passing through the lands was first opened for public traffic;

(c)

where a 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 railway administration shall not be compelled to provide other accommodation for the crossing of the road or stream.

(4)

The Minister may appoint a time for the commencement of any work to be executed under subsection (1), and if for 14 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 Minister may execute it and recover from the railway administration the cost incurred by him in the execution thereof.