Railway Safety Act 2005

Railway Incident Investigation Unit.

55.—(1) There shall be established a unit within the Commission which shall form part of the Commission and which, subject to section 57 , shall carry out its functions independent from the other functions of the Commission, to be known as the Railway Incident Investigation Unit and in this Act referred to as the “Investigation Unit”.

(2) The function of the Investigation Unit shall be the investigation in accordance with this Part of all classes of railway incidents specified by the Minister.

(3) The Minister shall make regulations specifying the classes of railway incidents which shall be investigated by the Investigation Unit.

(4) Subject to subsection (3), the Investigation Unit may, where it considers that an investigation is warranted, investigate any railway incident.

(5) The Investigation Unit may for the purposes of undertaking an investigation engage a person in accordance with section 18 who in the opinion of the Investigation Unit is suitably qualified to undertake an investigation.

(6) The Commission shall ensure that within the resources made available to it for the performance of its functions, an appropriate and proportionate level of resources is made available to the Investigation Unit to enable it to discharge its functions under this Part.

(7) The level of resources made available to the Investigation Unit shall be subject to the prior consent of the Minister.