Commentary on provisions of the Act Railway matters Section 40: Disapplication of licensing requirement in pre-operational phase
Subsection (1) provides that section 6(1) of the Railways Act 1993 does not apply to a network constructed under this Act, or any trains running on such a network, if it is not ready for commercial use. But for this disapplication, section 6(1) of the 1993 Act would impose a requirement for a licence or an exemption on the operator of the railway asset. Under subsection (2), a network will be deemed ready for commercial use if the Secretary of State lays a notice before Parliament to that effect.
	Subsection (3) provides that such an exemption under this section is an appropriate licence exemption for the purposes of section 122 of the Railways Act 1993. This means that a defence is available in the case of any proceedings for nuisance.