Railway byelaws

The current national railway byelaws were made in 2005 by Statutory Instrument under section 219 of the Transport Act 2000. There have been 3 sets of amendments.

September 2011 amendment

In September 2011, an alteration of the definition of ‘railway’ to remove from its scope all railway assets of Transport for London, as well as trains, vehicles and any associated equipment and references to London Underground Limited and Tube Lines Limited from the list of excluded operators in schedule 2.

The Railway Byelaws Amendment Order 2011 allowed Transport for London to set its own byelaws covering issues such as a general alcohol ban on its network and ensuring a consistent approach to the application of byelaws where National Rail and Transport for London services share stations and facilities.

December 2013 amendment

In December 2013, an alteration to the list of excluded operators in schedule 2 was made by inserting ‘Merseyrail Electrics Limited 2002’, with the effect that railway assets owned by or under the management of that company are excluded from the national railway byelaws.

The Railway Byelaws Amendment Order 2013 allowed Merseyrail to set its own byelaws, which will include a general ban on the carriage of open containers and consumption of alcohol on Merseyrail services and stations. The Merseyrail byelaws are the same as the national railway byelaws in all other respects.

November 2025 amendment

In November 2025, alterations including:

• adding to the restriction on smoking to include electronic cigarettes and similar devices
• amending byelaw 14 on traffic signs, obstructions and parking, such that there are separate provisions for England and Wales (where the recovery of unpaid parking charges is now governed by schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012) and Scotland
• clarifying the terms used in the national railway byelaws, such as ‘fine’ and ‘operator’
• replacing gendered language with gender neutral terms

The Railway Byelaws Amendment Order 2025 will come into force on 26 December 2025. These amendments will:

• ban the use of electronic cigarettes or similar devices on any part of the railway where there is a notice prohibiting smoking
• remove liability under the national railway byelaws in England and Wales for station car parking subject to a contractual arrangement, as the recovery of unpaid parking charges will now be governed by schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
• remove the ability for an operator or authorised person to clamp vehicles in breach of the national railway byelaws in England and Wales
• set out the circumstances in England and Wales when vehicles or other objects can be removed or stored, for example, if it is necessary to deal with an emergency
• amend the definition of ‘operator’ to include successor organisations of the operators listed in schedule 1