Commentary on Sections and Schedules Railway matters Section 25: Award of Crossrail franchises to public-sector operators
75.Section 25 disapplies the prohibition in section 25 of the Railways Act 1993 on public sector operators being a franchisee in respect of passenger railway services. It therefore allows a public sector operator to be a franchisee under a franchise agreement in two circumstances. The first circumstance is where the franchise agreement relates wholly or mainly to services that use the principal Crossrail tunnel. This enables ancillary services to be grouped with a Crossrail service in a public sector operation. The second circumstance is where the franchise agreement relates wholly or mainly to services that operate on at least part of the Crossrail route where such services are likely to be subject to substantial disruption because of Crossrail construction. Substantial disruption to services is determined by reference in particular to the frequency of disruption, the duration of the period during which services are disrupted and the severity of the likely disruption.