Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1854

Duty of Railway Companies to make Arrangements for receiving and forwarding Traffic, without unreasonable Delay, and without Partiality.

II. Every Railway Company, Canal Company, and Railway and Canal Company, shall, according to their respective Powers, afford all reasonable Facilities for the receiving and forwarding and delivering of Traffic upon and from the several Railways and Canals belonging to or worked by such Companies respectively, and for the Return of Carriages, Trucks, Boats, and other Vehicles, and no such Company shall make or give any undue or unreasonable Preference or Advantage to or in favour of any particular Person or Company, or any particular Description of Traffic, in any respect whatsoever, nor shall any such Company subject any particular Person or Company, or any particular Description of Traffic, to any undue or unreasonable Prejudice or Disadvantage in any respect whatsoever; and every Railway Company and Canal Company and Railway and Canal Company having or working Railways or Canals which form Part of a continuous Line of Railway or Canal or Railway and Canal Communication, or which have the Terminus, Station, or Wharf of the one near the Terminus, Station, or Wharf of the other, shall afford all due and reasonable Facilities for receiving and forwarding all the Traffic arriving by one of such Railways or Canals by the other, without any unreasonable Delay, and without any such Preference or Advantage, or Prejudice or Disadvantage, as aforesaid, and so that no Obstruction may be offered to the Public desirous of using such Railways or Canals or Railways and Canals as a continuous Line of Communication, and so that all reasonable Accommodation may, by means of the Railways and Canals of the several Companies, be at all Times afforded to the Public in that Behalf.