CHAPTER 454
TANZANIA-ZAMBIA RAILWAY ACT
Arrangement of Sections
Section
PART I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
2. Interpretation
3. Goods in transit
PART II
TANZANIA-ZAMBIA RAILWAY AUTHORITY
4. Establishment of authority
5. General duty of authority
6. Vesting of movable and immovable property
7. Functions of authority
8. New railway lines and branches
PART III
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
9. Establishment and composition of council
10. Functions of council
PART IV
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
11. Establishment and composition of the board
12. Functions of board
13. Delegation
PART V
ADMINISTRATION
14. Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director
15. Functions of Managing Director and delegation
16. Functions of the Deputy Managing Director
17. Delegation of Managing Director’s powers
18. Regional General Manager
PART VI
FINANCIAL PROVISIONS
19. Funds of authority
20. Annual and supplementary budget
21. Financial year
22. Accounts and auditors
23. Annual report
PART VII
OPERATIONS OF THE AUTHORITY
24. Conditions for carriage of passengers and luggage
25. General right of persons to be carried as passengers
26. General conditions for issue of tickets
27. Travelling without valid ticket, etc
28. Fares payable by person travelling without valid ticket, etc
29. Conditions for carriage of goods
30. General right to have goods carried
31. Description etc, of goods to be delivered
32. Goods to be sold to pay charges, rates, etc
33. Unclaimed goods in possession of authority
34. Indemnity where goods claimed by two persons, etc
35. Dangerous or offensive goods, etc
36. Tariff book, time-tables, etc
37. Maximum load
PART VIII
RESPONSIBILITY OF AUTHORITY AS CARRIER AND WAREHOUSEMAN
38. Liability for loss of life, etc, of passengers
39. No liability for delay to passengers
40. Liability for loss etc, of goods in transit
41. Liability for delay, etc, of goods
42. Limitation of liability for animals
43. Limitation of liability for loss, etc, of specified article
44. Limitation of liability for loss, etc, of goods deposited in cloakroom
PART IX
INSPECTIONS, NEW RAILWAYS AND ROLLING STOCK
45. Inspector of railways
46. Functions of inspectors of railways
47. Powers of inspectors of railways
48. Means of entry and information to be provided to inspector of railways
49. New rolling stock or new railway
50. Notice of intended opening of new railway or use of new rolling stock
51. Conditions for opening new railway or putting into service new rolling stock
52. Procedure for approval
53. Alteration of railways
54. Temporary suspension of traffic
55. Power to close railway or to discontinue use of rolling stock
56. Re-opening of closed railway, etc
PART X
ACCIDENTS
57. Duty to report accidents
58. Inquiries into accidents
59. Submission of returns
PART XI
RAILWAY UNDER CONSTRUCTION
60. Acquisition of land for purposes of authority
61. Entry on land for survey, excavation, construction, etc
62. Railway strip
63. Entry on land to prevent accidents, etc
64. Entry on land to alter position of pipes, etc
65. Power to take water
66. Accommodation works
67. Additional accommodation works
68. Construction of railway crossing public road
69. Use of railway under construction
PART XII
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
70. Endangering safety
71. Miscellaneous offences
72. Refusal to pay fare or unauthorised purchase of ticket
73. Failure to obey lawful instructions, obstructing, etc
74. Unauthorised sale of tickets
75. False returns
76. Unlawfully transporting dangerous goods
77. Employee demanding improper amount
78. Drunkenness while on locomotive, guard’s van, etc
79. Breath test
80. Offences which are offences under other laws
81. Arrest of employee
82. Particulars of offences and penalties to be exhibited
PART XIII
GENERAL PROVISIONS
83. Liability for damages caused by fire
84. Notice of claim
85. Restriction on execution against property of authority
86. Service of notice, etc, on Managing Director
87. Regulations
88. Repeal and savings
AN ACT
to give effect to the Agreement relating to the Tanzania-Zambia Railway made between the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Government of the Republic of Zambia, dated 28th September, 1993; to provide for the continued existence of the Tanzania- Zambia Railway Authority; to provide for a Council of Ministers and a Board of Directors; to define the functions and powers of the authority, the Council and the Board; to provide for and regulate the manner in which the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority shall be operated; to repeal and replace the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Act; and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.
[28th April, 1995]
Act 10 of 1995.
PART I
PRELIMINARY
This Act may be cited as the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Act.
(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
“agreement” means the agreement made between the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Government of the Republic of Zambia relating to the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority;
“authorised employee” means an employee authorised by the Managing Director to exercise the powers or perform the duties in relation to which the expression is used;
“authority” means the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority established by section 4,
“board” means the Board of Directors established by section 11;
“booking office” means a place at which tickets may be obtained from, or charges paid to, the authority;
“branch line” means any railway track joining the main line but does not include a siding;
“Chairman” means the Chairman of the Council or the board, as the case may be;
“charges” means all sums received or receivable, charged or chargeable, for, or in respect of, the carriage or warehousing of goods by the authority or for, or in respect of, any other services or facilities provided by the authority;
“committee” means a committee of the council or the board, as the case may be;
“consignee” means the person, firm or body to whom goods accepted for carriage by the authority are addressed;
“consignment” means one or more packages of goods, tendered for carriage by one consignor to one consignee on one consignment note and accepted for carriage by the authority;
“consignor” means the person, firm or body who has tendered goods accepted for carriage by the authority;
“Contracting State” means the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania or the Government of the Republic of Zambia;
“council” means the Council of Ministers established under section 9;
“customs law” means any law relating to customs and excise duties, sales tax, value added tax or consumption tax, as the case may be;
“Deputy Managing Director” means the person appointed Deputy Managing Director under section 14;
“employee” means any person in the service of the authority;
“fare” includes all sums received, charged or chargeable for the carriage of a passenger by the authority;
“free pass” means any written authority for the carriage of any person as a passenger by the authority without payment of any fare;
“goods” means luggage, animals (whether live or dead) and all other moveable property of any description;
“Government”, in relation to either of the Contracting States, includes any person or authority authorised to act on behalf of that Contracting State;
“inspector of railways” means a public officer appointed under section 45;
“light engine” means a locomotive without a vehicle attached to it;
“luggage” means such articles of personal apparel or for personal use, together with their containers, as are usually carried by passengers for their personal use; but does not include goods which, though carried in any such container or otherwise are not intended for any such use;
“main line” means the railway running from Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia to the port of Dar-es-salaam in Tanzania but does not include a branch line;
“Managing Director” means the person appointed Managing Director under section 14;
“railway” means the whole or any portion of the main line, branch line or siding operated by the authority and all other movable property vested in, or placed at the disposal of, the authority for use in connection therewith;
“railway strip” means the land on both sides of the railway track measuring fifty metres in width from the centre line of the track;
“region” means the regional offices of the authority established under section 4;
“Regional General Manager” means a person appointed Regional General Manager under section 18;
“Secretary” means the Secretary to the board;
“section” means any distance between two railway stations;
“siding” means any spur of a railway track built for purposes of conveying goods to the premises of any consignee or consignor;
“tariff” means the tariff specified in the tariff book;
“Tariff Book” means the tariff book published by the authority under section 36;
“ticket” includes a single ticket, a return ticket, a seasonal ticket, and any other written authority (except a free pass) for the carriage of a person as a passenger by the authority;
“train” means a locomotive with a vehicle attached or a light engine or motor trolley which is designated as a train;
“vehicle” means any wagon, coach, truck, van or other conveyance used for transport by the authority;
“watercourse” means any river, stream, drain, gully, canal or other channel, whether artificial or not, in which water flows, whether constantly or intermittently;
“waterworks” includes boreholes, wells, reservoirs, dams, weirs, tanks, cisterns, conduits, aqueducts, pipes, hydrants, taps, pumps, engines and all other structures, plant and appliances used or constructed for obtaining, storing, purifying, conveying, distributing, measuring or regulating water.
For the purposes of this Act, goods shall be deemed to be in transit from the time the goods are accepted by the authority for carriage until the expiry of twenty-four hours after the goods have arrived at the place to which the goods have been consigned; and thereafter the goods shall, so long as they remain in the custody of the authority, be deemed to be in such custody otherwise than for the purpose of carriage:
Provided that—
(a) where such goods are delivered to the consignee within such period of twenty-four hours, the goods shall cease to be in transit as from the time they are so delivered;
(b) where such goods are perishable goods and the authority, in the exercise of its powers under this Act, disposes of such goods within such period of twenty-four hours, the goods shall cease to be in transit as from the time they are so disposed of;
(c) where such goods are consigned to a place at which the authority does not maintain any staff for the receipt thereof, the goods shall cease to be in transit as from the time they arrive at that place;
(d) where such goods are consigned for delivery to a place other than a railway station by means of a delivery service operated from a railway station by the authority and such goods cannot, due to causes beyond the control of the authority, be delivered at that place within twenty-four hours after the time of their arrival at the railway station from which the delivery service is operated, such goods shall cease to be in transit after the time such goods are tendered for delivery at that place or after the time of their arrival at the railway station from which the delivery service is operated, whichever is the earlier.
PART II
TANZANIA-ZAMBIA RAILWAY AUTHORITY
(1) The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority as established under the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Act, shall continue to exist as if established under this Act and shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, capable of suing and of being sued in its corporate name, and with power, subject to the other provisions of this Act, to do all such acts and things as a body corporate may by law do or perform.
(2) The provisions of Part I of the First Schedule shall apply to the authority.
(3) The headquarters of the authority shall be at Dar-es-salaam in the United Republic of Tanzania.
(4) The authority shall establish regional offices in Tanzania and Zambia, which shall be self-sustaining units of the authority, as cost and profit centres, operating on sound commercial principles.
(1) It shall be the duty of the authority to provide, on sound commercial principles of operation, a secure, efficient and safe system of public transport of passengers and goods by rail between and within Zambia and Tanzania.
(2) The authority shall—
(a) generate positive rates of return on freight and passenger services and shall not subsidise passenger services by freight services or freight services by passenger services;
(b) not be required by either Contracting State to provide to either Contracting State, to any authority or person, any transport service, either gratuitously or at a rate or charge which is less than that specified in the Tariff Book for that service, unless that Contracting State provides a direct subsidy for such service.
6. Vesting of movable and immovable property
Any movable or immovable property placed at the disposal of the authority, before the commencement of this Act, by a Contracting State for the use of the authority, shall, without further assurance, be transferred to, and vest in, the authority.
(1) The authority may—
(a) carry passengers and goods by rail;
(b) manufacture parts and provide maintenance and repair services at any foundry, workshop or other factory owned or operated by the authority;
(c) operate road-rail services;
(d) provide storage facilities in Tanzania and Zambia for goods to be carried by the authority;
(e) provide for the consignment of goods to and from any place in Tanzania or Zambia or any other place;
(f) provide in Tanzania and Zambia such other amenities and facilities for passengers and other persons making use of the services provided by the authority as the board may consider necessary or desirable;
(g) acquire, construct, manufacture, maintain or repair waterworks or electric generating plant or any other works, plant or apparatus necessary or desirable for the supply or transmission of water or of electric energy for the purpose of the authority;
(h) subject to the approval of the Government, alter the course of, or raise or lower the level of, any watercourse or road if such alteration, raising or lowering is necessary for the purposes of the authority;
(i) determine, impose or levy rates, fares and other charges for any service performed by the authority or for the use by any person of the facilities provided by the authority or for the grant to any person of any licence, permit or certificate;
(j) enter into agreement with any person carrying on business as a carrier of passengers or goods within or outside Tanzania or Zambia providing for the carriage of passengers or goods by, or on behalf of, the authority, and of that other person, under one contract or at a through-fare or rate;
(k) apply for, purchase or otherwise acquire any patent, concession and the like, conferring any right to use any invention capable of being used for any of the purposes of the authority, and to use, grant licences for use of, or otherwise turn to account, any rights so acquired;
(l) enter into partnership or into any arrangement for sharing profits, union of interests, joint ventures, reciprocal concession or co-operation with any person carrying on or engaged in, any business or transaction which the authority is authorised to carry on or engage in, or any business or transaction capable of being conducted so as directly or indirectly to benefit the authority; and to take or otherwise acquire and hold shares or stocks in any securities and to sell, hold, re-issue, with or without guarantee, or otherwise deal with such shares or securities; and
(m) do all other acts and things which, in the opinion of the board, are necessary to facilitate the proper performance of the functions of the authority.
(2) The authority may sell, let or otherwise dispose of, whether absolutely or for a term of years, any part of its undertakings or any property which in the opinion of the board is not required for the performance of the functions of the authority under this Act, including any part of its undertakings which is carried on outside Tanzania and Zambia and any property which is situated outside Tanzania and Zambia:
Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall be construed as exempting the authority from the provisions of any other written law imposing restrictions, limitations, obligations or conditions in relation to any disposition or alienation of any land, or any right, title or interest in or over any land, or in relation to any rent which the authority may recover as a landlord.
8. New railway lines and branches
No new railway line or branch line shall be constructed by the authority unless, prior to such construction, a feasibility study report on such proposed undertaking has been made by the board to the council and has been approved by the council.
PART III
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
9. Establishment and composition of council
(1) There shall be a Council of Ministers, which shall consist of the three Ministers responsible for finance, transport and trade respectively, in Tanzania and the three Ministers responsible for finance, transport and commerce respectively, in Zambia.
(2) The Ministers responsible for transport in Tanzania and Zambia shall rotate as Chairman at the beginning of every financial year of the authority.
(3) The provisions of Part II of the First Schedule shall apply to the council.
(1) The functions of the council shall be to—
(a) consider and approve long-term development plans of the authority;
(b) authorise the raising of additional share capital;
(c) consider and approve the construction of new railway lines or branch lines;
(d) approve and submit to the National Assembly the authority’s annual report;
(e) determine any matter of an international character involving agreement with, or the interest of, the Government of any country other than the Contracting States; and
(f) give directions to the board on matters of public interest.
PART IV
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
11. Establishment and composition of the board
There shall be a Board of Directors which shall consist of six members as follows—
(a) the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry responsible for Transport in Zambia;
(b) the Principal Secretary in the Ministry responsible for transport in Tanzania;
(c) two members with experience in either transport, commerce, industry or finance appointed by the Minister responsible for transport in Zambia;
(d) two members with experience in either transport, commerce, industry or finance appointed by the Minister responsible for transport in Tanzania.
(2) The Members referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) shall rotate as Chairman at the beginning of ever calendar year.
(3) The Minister shall appoint, simultaneously with appointment of members referred to in sub-section (1), alternate members of the board who shall attend meetings of the board when the substantive member is unable to attend and such alternate member shall have the same rights and duties of the substantive member for the purposes of that meeting.
(4) The provisions of Part III of the First Schedule shall apply to the board.
(1) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the board shall exercise the functions of the authority.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of sub-section (1), and subject to the other provisions of this Act, the board shall—
(a) approve the annual budget of the authority;
(b) approve the investment plans of the authority;
(c) approve the appropriation of surplus funds generated by the authority;
(d) recommend to the council policies relating to the construction of new railway or branch lines;
(e) approve any changes exceeding fifty per cent in the tariffs, rates, fares and services and facilities provided by the authority;
(f) appoint and dismiss the Managing Director, Deputy Managing Director and senior management staff;
(g) approve the organisational structure and establishment of the authority;
(h) approve any changes exceeding twenty per centum in salaries and conditions of service for employees of the authority;
(i) approve the authority’s financial regulations;
(j) approve any pension schemes for employees of the authority; and
(k) approve the disposal of capital items.
(1) Notwithstanding section 12, the board may, in writing, under the hand of the Chairman, delegate to any member, to any committee of the board or to the Managing Director, any of its functions under this Act, other than the powers delegated to the Managing Director under section 15 or to a Regional General Manager under section 18, and where such delegation has been made, the delegated function shall be exercised by the delegate in accordance with the terms of the instrument of delegation.
(2) A delegation under this Act may be made to a holder of an office specifying the office but without naming the holder and each person who acts in, occupies or performs the duties of that office may, without any further authority, exercise the delegated functions in accordance with the delegation made.
PART V
ADMINISTRATION
14. Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director
(1) There shall be a Managing Director for the authority who shall be appointed, by the board, from the Republic of Zambia.
(2) There shall be a Deputy Managing Director for the authority who shall be appointed, by the board, from the United Republic of Tanzania.
(3) In appointing the persons referred to in sub-sections (1) and (2), the board shall have regard to the desirability of appointing persons having wide experience in, and having shown capacity in, matters pertaining to the operation and administration of railways.
(4) The Managing Director and the Deputy Managing Director, shall attend meetings of the council or of the board and may attend meetings of any committee established by the council or the board and may address such meetings, but shall not vote on any matter:
Provided that the person presiding at any such meeting may, for good cause, require the Managing Director or the Deputy Managing Director to withdraw from the meeting.
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