s 23 Sanction of Minister to opening of railway
23.—(1) No railway shall be opened for the public carriage of passengers until the Minister has by order sanctioned the opening thereof for that purpose. (2) The sanction of the Minister shall not be given until an engineer, to be appointed by the Minister, has, after inspection of the railway, reported in writing to the Minister that —(a) he has made a careful inspection of the railway and rolling stock; (b) the weight of rails, strength of bridges, general structural character of the works, and the size of and maximum gross load upon the axles of any rolling stock are such as have been prescribed by the Minister; (c) the railway is sufficiently supplied with rolling stock; (d) in his opinion the railway can be opened for the public carriage of passengers without danger to the public using it. (3) This section shall extend to the opening of any additional works forming part of or directly connected with the railway which have been constructed after the inspection which preceded the first opening of the railway, and also to any alteration or reconstruction materially affecting the structural character of any work to which this section applies. (4) The Minister may make rules defining the cases in which, and in those cases the extent to which, the procedure prescribed in this section may be dispensed with in regard to the classes of works specified in subsection (3).