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26 MARCH 2014. - Act respecting the safe operation of railway lines museums (1)

PHILIPPE, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
PART 1^er. - General provisions
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. This Act regulates all requirements relating to the safety of operation of railway lines museums.
This Act does not apply to rolling stock:
1° that operates exclusively on the sections of the railway line museum that are temporarily closed to normal traffic due to maintenance, renewal or redevelopment of the railway line museum;
2° used for manoeuvres on the courses of a repository or workshop.
Art. 3. For the purposes of this Act:
1° "material": the rolling stock that is used on the infrastructure of the railway line museum;
2° "Ministry": the Minister who has the regulation of rail transport in his duties;
3° "mustum railway line": the railway line that is off-duty, but not decommissioned from the railway infrastructure, whose owner or owner of a real right on this railway line agrees to destinate it to a tourist, heritage or museum character;
4° "operator of the railway line museum": the legal person or natural person who operates a railway line museum;
5° "candidat-operator": the legal person or natural person who wants to operate a railway line museum;
6° "exploitation": the management and use of the railway line museum for the tourist railway traffic;
7° "material expert": the natural person or legal person with a professional experience of at least five years in terms of the railway rolling stock technique. Physical persons acquired this professional experience in a railway company, a railway equipment manufacturer or a railway equipment maintenance provider;
8° "Infrastructural Expert": the railway infrastructure manager referred to in the Railway Code;
9° "infrastructure of the railway line museum": the railway line museum and the installations, the works of art and dependencies at the service of the railway line museum.
Artworks include all bridges and subsoil works from a diameter of 1.5 m;
10° "security authority": the authority responsible for railway safety tasks referred to in the Railway Code and its enforcement orders;
11° "investigation body": the body responsible for investigating accidents and incidents, referred to in the Railway Code and its enforcement orders;
12° "grave accident": serious accident, referred to in the Railway Code and its enforcement orders;
13° "reference speed": the maximum speed that is allowed on the railway section of the museum railway line.
PART 2. - Operation of railway lines museums
CHAPTER 1^er. - Operating authorization
Art. 4. In order to operate a museum railway line, the operator of the museum railway line has an operating authorization issued by the security authority.
Paragraph 1^er is not applicable:
1° to the completion of tests with equipment on the infrastructure of the railway line museum;
2° to tests of safety management system procedures;
3° to the completion of the journeys due to the maintenance, management or renewal of the museum railway infrastructure.
Passengers may not be transported during the traffic referred to in paragraph 2.
Art. 5. Prior to the introduction of the written application to obtain an operating authorization, as specified in section 6, the applicant-operator shall:
1° an infrastructural expert to conduct a technical visit to the routes and crossings, as well as works of art;
2° a material expert to conduct a technical inspection of the equipment.
The infrastructure expert and the hardware expert record their findings of the technical visit referred to in paragraph 1^er in a written report.
The King determines the royalty of the intervention of the infrastructure expert.
Art. 6. The applicant-operator shall apply for a written operating authorization to the security authority, no later than three months before the planned operation of the museum railway line.
Art. 7. The application referred to in Article 6 shall be accompanied by the technical record, which shall contain at least the following information:
1° the complete identification and contact data of the candidate-operator, accompanied by any relevant document concerning the form of his organization, such as, for example, the statutes and the flow chart;
2° data relating to the precise geographical location of the museum railway line;
3° the indicative description of the activity envisaged, including periods and frequency of use;
4° the description of the applicant-operator's equipment, including the demonstration of its compatibility with the infrastructure of the museum railway line;
5° the reports of the infrastructure expert and the material expert referred to in Article 5, paragraph 2;
6° the description of the security management system, which contains the elements referred to in the Appendix.
Art. 8. The security authority shall verify and communicate as soon as possible, and no later than two months after receipt of the application and file annexed thereto, to the applicant-operator if the file meets the security provisions referred to in Chapter 2.
If the file is not complete or if necessary, the security authority shall request the applicant-operator missing documents or additional information. The two-month period referred to in paragraph 1^er is suspended until the date of receipt of the requested information.
Art. 9. When the file meets the security provisions referred to in Chapter 2, the security authority shall issue the operating authorization.
Art. 10. The applicant/operator or the holder of the operating authorization shall promptly inform the security authority of any substantial changes occurring after the application for authorization to operate or during the operation of the railway line museum, as to:
1° to the security provisions referred to in Chapter 2;
2° to the infrastructure of the museum railway line, equipment or operating conditions.
"substantial modification" means any major improvement, renovation or modification that changes the technical or functional characteristics of the operating possibilities.
Art. 11. The operating authorization is valid for ten years and may be renewed at the request of the operator of the museum railway line.
In the event of a renewal, the licensee shall submit three months before the expiry of the validity period referred to in paragraph 1^erthe documents referred to in Article 7 to the security authority for further analysis and review.
The security authority may request any additional information that it considers useful.
Art. 12. The security authority may require that the operating authorization be partially or entirely revised, where:
1° a situation has been created or may be created that compromises the safety of operation of the museum railway line;
2° the security provisions referred to in Chapter 2 substantially change;
3° the infrastructure of the railway line museum, the equipment or the terms of operation substantially change.
Art. 13. The operating authority may be suspended or withdrawn partially or entirely by the security authority, where:
1° a situation has been created that compromises the safety of operation of the railway line museum;
2° the licensee no longer meets the conditions for obtaining or failing to comply with the operating authorization;
3° the owner of the operating authorization did not use it during the year following the issuance, or for two consecutive tourist seasons.
CHAPTER 2. - Safety provisions
Section 1^re. - Security Management System
Art. 14. The security management system ensures that all risks associated with the operation of the museum railway line are controlled and that measures will be taken in the event of a disturbed situation or disturbed rail traffic.
The security management system contains the elements described in the Appendix.
Art. 15. The operator of the museum railway line sends to the security authority, before 1^er February of each year, a report on the situation of operational security during the previous calendar year. This security report contains information on the operation and monitoring of the security management system.
The King may determine a model for the security report referred to in paragraph 1^erand identify additional content elements.
Section 2. - Obligations relating to the operation of railway lines museums
Art. 16. The operator of the museum railway line adopts the operating rules and operates the museum railway line in accordance with them, as well as with the security management system and the security provisions relating to infrastructure, equipment and security personnel, determined by the King.
Art. 17. The reference speed of railway traffic on a railway line museum is 50 kilometers per hour.
Art. 18. The operator of the museum railway line shall immediately inform the investigative body of the occurrence of a serious accident under the terms and conditions determined by the latter.
The operator of the museum railway line also immediately informs the Minister, the security authority and the judicial authorities of the occurrence of a serious accident.
Art. 19. § 1^er. Each serious accident is the subject of a report, a copy of which is sent by the operator of the museum railway line within three working days to the investigative body, in accordance with the terms and conditions determined by the investigative body.
Corrections, revisions and/or additional information, not available within three days, will be provided to the investigative body, as determined by the investigative body, as soon as they are available.
The King may determine the information contained in the record.
§ 2. After the occurrence of a serious accident, the operator of the museum railway line shall forward its full investigation report to the investigative body as soon as possible.
PART 3. - Liability and insurance
Art. 20. The responsibility of the operator of the museum railway line is regulated by the common law and special regulations concerning the transport of persons.
Art. 21. The operator of the museum railway line is sufficiently satisfied against all risks arising from the operation of the museum railway line.
PART 4. - Missions and competencies of the security authority
Art. 22. The missions of the security authority include:
1° the issuance, renewal, modification, suspension and withdrawal of the operating authorization;
2° the control of the conformity of the operation of the railway line museum with the safety provisions referred to in Title 2.
Art. 23. The security authority may take, pursuant to its duties referred to in section 22, all necessary measures to enforce the security provisions, including the prohibition on driving personnel or the use of the equipment or infrastructure of the railway line museum.
The officers of the security authority shall, within the framework of the monitoring of compliance with this Act and its enforcement orders, have the same powers as those provided for in Article 213 of the Rail Code.
Art. 24. The security authority carries out its missions in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent manner. It gives all parties the opportunity to be heard and motivates its decisions.
Art. 25. The possession of the security authority's agent is brought to the attention of third parties by a legitimation card, of which the King sets the model.
PART 5. - Investigations for railway accidents
Art. 26. The investigative body conducts an investigation after each serious accident on the museum rail line.
Art. 27. Without prejudice to the competence of the police and judicial authorities and, where appropriate, in collaboration with these bodies, the investigative body has as soon as possible:
1° access to the site of the serious accident, the equipment involved and the infrastructure of the museum railway line;
2° the right to immediately obtain an inventory of the evidence and to ensure the controlled removal of wrecks, installations or infrastructure elements for examination or analysis;
3° access to the content of the verbal message loggers and recordings of the instrument equipment, and to the recording of the operation of the traffic signalling and control system, as well as the possibility of using it;
4° access to the results of the examination of the victims' bodies;
5° access to the results of the flight crew and other rail personnel involved in the accident;
6° the possibility of interrogating the rail personnel involved and other witnesses, and the right to obtain a copy of the statements made by these persons to other bodies;
7° access to any relevant information or document held by the operator of the railway line museum.
Art. 28. The possession of the quality of principal investigator, deputy investigator, member of the investigative body or expert mandated by the investigative body is brought to the attention of third parties by a legitimation card to which the King sets the model.
Art. 29. During their trips to the field:
1° Investigators are required to identify immediately with the local official;
2° Investigators comply with the rules concerning the safety of work which are repeated in the internal rules of the operator of the railway line museum, and which have been communicated to them.
Art. 30. Objects that are critical to the investigation and are retained by the investigators:
1° are marked, labelled and locked in a sealed package so that the people who collected them can later recognize them with certainty;
2° are made available to persons who conduct the investigation, information or investigation.
Art. 31. Once the investigation is completed, the objects are stored at the location designated by the investigative body.
The shelf life is three years if the objects relate to an individual accident and three months in the other cases. This deadline will take place at the end of the investigation.
Upon the expiry of the period referred to in paragraph 2, the proceeding that designated the storage site shall decide whether the holder may dissold objects, unless otherwise decided by the judicial authorities.
Art. 32. When evidence is found by the investigative body that the cause of the serious accident may be an offence, the investigative body shall immediately notify the police and judicial authorities.
Art. 33. The investigation is conducted in such a way that all parties can be heard and respected.
Art. 34. For each accident referred to in section 26, the investigative body shall make the necessary arrangements. This includes the operational and technical expertise required to conduct the investigation. These skills may be sought within or outside the investigative body, depending on the nature of the accident or incident.
Art. 35. The investigative body concludes its examinations on the accident site as soon as possible, in order to allow the operator of the museum railway line to rehabilitate and reopen the line as soon as possible.
Art. 36. The investigation is carried out independently of any information or judicial instruction and cannot in any case relate to the determination of fault or responsibility.
Art. 37. Each investigation of a serious accident is reported. The report is issued as soon as possible.
The report referred to in paragraph 1^er indicates the purpose of the investigation and contains, where appropriate, safety recommendations.
The recommendations do not constitute a presumption of misconduct or liability.
Art. 38. The operator of the museum railway line makes every effort to collaborate spontaneously and fully in determining the causes of the accident.
It refrains from any action that is not previously agreed with the investigative body and is likely to delay or adversely affect the determination of the causes of the accident.
It is prohibited for the operator of the museum railway line to move from initiative an element that has suffered or caused an accident, except for the case of necessity in, for example, a rescue and/or removal of intruders to traffic
PART 6. - Final provisions and entry into force
Art. 39. This Act applies no later than twelve months after its entry into force on the railway lines being already in operation.
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels, March 26, 2014.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
The Minister of the Interior,
Ms. J. MILQUET
The Secretary of State for Mobility,
Mr. WATHELET
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. A. TURTELBOOM
____
Note
(1) Session 2012-2013.
House of Representatives.
Documents. - Bill, 53-3037 - No. 1. - Amendment, 53-3037 - No. 2. - Report, 53-3037 - No. 3. - Text adopted in plenary and transmitted to the Senate, 53-3037 - No. 4.
Full report. - 12 and 13 February 2014.
Senate.
Project not mentioned.

Annex to the Act of March 26, 2014 on the safe operation of railway lines museums
The security management system
1. Security Management System Requirements
All sections of the security management system are documented.
The system describes in particular how the responsibilities within the organization of the operator of the museum railway line are divided.
It indicates how the operation of the museum railway line is controlled on different levels, how staff and their representatives are involved in the operation and how the security management system is continuously improved.
2. The elements of the security management system
The basic elements of the security management system are:
(a) a security policy, which is approved by the operator of the museum railway line and communicated to staff;
(b) a list of all security functions to be performed;
(c) a description of the tasks performed by security personnel and how security personnel are trained and monitored;
(d) plans and procedures for maintaining and increasing security, including provisions for periodic internal monitoring;
(e) security documents made available to security personnel;
(f) the equipment that the operator of the railway line museum makes available to train operators and train attendants in order to ensure the normal and abnormal internal communication;
(g) if the railway line museum uses a traffic signalling and control system, the regulations that describe the use, maintenance and procedures of this system;
(h) procedures to ensure that accidents and incidents are reviewed and that necessary preventive measures are taken;
(i) action plans, alerts and information in the event of an emergency and, where appropriate, how it works with relevant public bodies;
(j) provisions for periodic internal controls over the security management system;
(k) the provisions to authorize, where appropriate, the occasional use of equipment that is not included in the application for the authorization to operate.
Seen to be annexed to the Act respecting the safe operation of the railway lines museums.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
The Minister of the Interior,
Ms. J. MILQUET
The Secretary of State for Mobility,
Mr. WATHELET