Regulation 3 Use of a train protection system
No person shall operate, and no infrastructure controller shall permit the operation of, a train on a railway unless a train protection system is in service in relation to that train and railway.
Until 1st January 2004 it shall be sufficient compliance with paragraph (1) if–
a programme for the installation and bringing into service of a train protection system in relation to that train and railway has been approved by the Executive and is being implemented; and
each part of the system which has been brought into service under that programme is maintained in service.
It shall be sufficient compliance with paragraph (1) if the train is being operated on a railway–
which immediately before the coming into force of this regulation was used (exclusively or not) by London Underground Limited, Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive, Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive, or Serco Metrolink Limited; and
in relation to which there is in service equipment which causes the brakes of the train to apply automatically if the train passes a stop signal without authority.
In any proceedings against a person for an offence for contravening paragraph (1) it shall be a defence for that person to prove that–
at the relevant time the train protection system (or, where paragraph (3) is relied on, the equipment referred to therein) or a relevant part had failed, or had been taken out of service, because of a fault;
in the case where the fault is in equipment on the train, the train had commenced its journey before the discovery of the fault or is being driven without passengers to a place for the purpose of repair;
it was not reasonably practicable to remedy the fault sooner; and
suitable measures had been taken after the discovery of the fault to mitigate the risk of trains colliding or derailing.
In any proceedings against a person for an offence of contravening paragraph (1) in so far as that paragraph relates to having in service in relation to a train on a railway the equipment referred to in the exception in the definition of “train protection system” in regulation 2(1), it shall be a defence for that person to prove that–
at the relevant time the equipment or a relevant part of it had failed, or had been taken out of service, because of a fault;
it was not reasonably practicable to remedy the fault sooner; and
equipment referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of that definition was at the relevant time in service in relation to that train and railway.