Section 2 of Kenya Railways Corporation Act CAP 397: Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
“animals” means animate things of every kind except human beings;
“authorized employee” means an employee authorized by the Managing Director to exercise the powers or perform the duties in respect of which the expression is used;
“beacon” includes a light, mark or other structure erected by the Corporation for the purpose of navigation on inland waterways;
“booking office” means a place at which tickets may be obtained or charges paid to the Corporation;
“Chairman” means the chairman of the Board appointed under section 4;
“charges” means all sums received or receivable, charged or chargeable, for, or in respect of, the carriage or warehousing of goods by the Corporation or for, or in respect of, any vessel or inland waterways port or any other service performed or facilities provided by the Corporation;
“consignee” means the person, firm or body to whom goods accepted for carriage by the Corporation are addressed;
“consignment” means one or more packages of goods or a quantity of loose goods tendered for carriage by one consignor to one consignee by the Corporation;
“consignor” means the person who has tendered goods which have been accepted for carriage by the Corporation;
“customs law” means any law in force imposing or relating to the collection of customs or excise duties or transfer tax;
“employee” means any person in the service of the Corporation;
“fare” includes all sums received or receivable, charged or chargeable, for the carriage of a passenger by the Corporation;
“ferry” means any vessel plying from one side of a waterway to the other for the purpose of the carriage of passengers or goods;
“firebreak” means any strip of land, whether under trees or not, which has been cleared of inflammable matter to prevent the spread of fire, and which is not less than thirty feet (measured from the boundary of the land upon which a railway is constructed) in width, or of such other dimensions or sited at such places as may have been agreed upon between the Managing Director and the owner or occupier of the land contiguous to any land occupied by the Corporation on which a railway is constructed;
“free pass” means an authority in writing for the carriage by the Corporation without the payment of any fare of any person as a passenger;
“goods” includes luggage, animals (whether alive or dead) and all other movable property of any description;
“inland waterways ports” means the ports specified in the Third Schedule;
“luggage” means such articles of personal apparel or for personal use, together with their containers, as are usually carried by passengers for their personal use, but does not include goods which, though carried in any such container or otherwise, are not intended for any such use;
“Managing Director” means the Managing Director of the Corporation appointed under section 5;
“master”, in relation to a vessel, means any person having charge of that vessel;
“perishable goods” means goods liable to rapid deterioration and includes fish, fruit, vegetables, potatoes, plants, bread, meat, game, butter, eggs, milk, cheese, birds, poultry, small animals, and any other thing which the Managing Director may by notice in the Gazette declare to be perishable goods;
“railway” means the whole or any portion of the lines of railway operated by the Corporation and all other movable and immovable property used, or placed at the disposal of the Corporation for use, in connection therewith;
“railway station” includes a road service station operated by the Corporation to serve the railway;
“rates” includes all sums which may, under the provisions of this Act, be levied for, or in respect of, the carriage or warehousing of goods by the Corporation or for, or in respect of, any vessel or inland waterways port or any other service performed or facility provided by the Corporation;
“season ticket” means a ticket entitling the person to whom it is issued to be carried by the Corporation as a passenger between the places specified thereon on the number of occasions or during the period specified thereon;
“Tariff Book” means the Tariff Book prepared and published in accordance with section 51;
“the purposes of the Corporation” means any purposes necessary or desirable for the performance of the services, or the provision of any facilities, which the Corporation is authorized to perform under this Act;
“ticket” includes a single ticket, a return ticket, a season ticket, and any other written authority (not a free pass) for the carriage of a person by the Corporation as a passenger;
“trains” includes locomotive engines, tenders, motors, coaches, wagons, trolleys and rolling stock of all kinds used, whether separately or in conjunction, on a railway;
“vehicle” means any vehicle other than a train or vessel;
“warehouse” includes any building, place, wagon, vessel or vehicle when used by the Corporation for the purpose of warehousing or depositing goods;
“watercourse” means any river, stream, drain, gully, canal or other channel, whether artificial or not, in which water flows whether constantly or intermittently;
“waterworks” includes boreholes, wells, reservoirs, dams, weirs, tanks, cisterns, conduits, aqueducts, pipes, hydrants, taps, pumps, engines and all other structures, plant and appliances used or constructed for obtaining, storing, purifying, conveying, distributing, measuring or regulating water.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, goods shall be deemed to be in transit from the time the goods are accepted by the Corporation for carriage until the expiration of twenty-four hours after the goods have arrived at the place to which, in respect of their carriage by the Corporation, the goods have been consigned, and thereafter the goods shall, so long as they remain in the custody of the Corporation, be deemed to be in such custody otherwise than for the purpose of carriage:
Provided that—
(i) where such goods are delivered to the consignee within the period of twenty-four hours, the goods shall cease to be in transit as from the time when they are delivered;
(ii) where such goods are perishable goods and the Corporation, in the exercise of its powers under this Act, disposes of those goods within the period of twenty-four hours, the goods shall cease to be in transit as from the time when they are so disposed of;
(iii) where the goods are, in respect of their carriage by the Corporation, consigned to a place at which the Corporation does not maintain any staff for the receipt thereof, the goods shall cease to be in transit as from the time when they arrive at such place;
(iv) where the goods are consigned for delivery to a place other than a railway station by means of a delivery service operating from a railway station or inland waterways port by the Corporation and such goods cannot, due to causes beyond the control of the Corporation, be delivered at such place within twenty-four hours after the time of their arrival at the railway station or inland waterways port from which the delivery service is operated, such goods shall cease to be in transit after the time when such goods are tendered for delivery at
such place or after the expiry of twenty-four hours after the time of their arrival at the railway station or inland waterways port from which the delivery service is operated, whichever is the earlier.
(3) In this Act and in all documents issued under this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
(a) “premises occupied by the Corporation” means premises vested in or placed at the disposal of the Corporation for the purpose of the Corporation;
(b) “property of the Corporation” means property vested in the
Corporation for the purpose of the Corporation;
(c) “the possession of the Corporation” means the possession by any employee in the course of his duty;
(d) “carried by the Corporation” means carried by the Corporation in accordance with the provisions of this Act;
(e) “accepted by the Corporation” means accepted by an employee or agent of the Corporation for carriage or warehousing by the Corporation in accordance with the provisions of this Act:
Provided that acceptance shall not be deemed to have been effected until a document of receipt in respect of the goods accepted, signed by an authorized employee or agent of the Corporation, has been issued;
(f) “services or facilities provided by the Corporation” means
services performed or facilities provided by the Corporation in accordance with the provisions of this Act;
(g) “operated by the Corporation” means operated by the
Corporation in accordance with the provisions in this Act;
(h) “vessel or vehicle of the Corporation” includes a vessel or vehicle operated on behalf of the Corporation.

Disclaimer: This document is not to be taken as legal advice.

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Section 4 - Board of Directors

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Section 5 - Managing director, deputy and secretary

(1) There shall be a Managing Director of the Corporation who shall be appointed by the Minister after consultation with the Board and whose terms and conditions of service shall be determined by the...

Section 6 - Further provisions

The First Schedule shall have effect with respect to the constitution or organization of the Board and otherwise in relation thereto.

Section 7 - Remuneration of directors

The Corporation shall pay to the directors such remuneration, fees or allowances for expenses as may be determined by the Minister: Provided that no remuneration, fees or allowances for expenses...

Section 8 - General duty of the Board

(1) It shall be the duty of the Board to provide a co-ordinated and integrated system within Kenya of— (a) rail and inland waterways transport services; (b) port facilities in relation to inland...

Section 9 - Management

Subject to this Act, the control and executive management of the Corporation shall be vested in the Managing Director.

Section 10 - Powers of the Managing Director

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Section 11 - Powers of the Board

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Section 11A - Concessioning of the railways

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Section 12 - Powers of the Minister

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Section 13 - Powers of the Corporation as a statutory body

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Section 14 - Acquisition of land for the purposes of the Corporation

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Section 15 - Power to enter land to survey, etc.

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Section 16 - Power to enter land to prevent accidents, etc.

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Section 17 - Power to enter land to alter position of pipes, etc.

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Section 18 - Power to take water

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Section 19 - Provision of transport services, etc., other than by the Corporation

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Section 20 - Accommodation works

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Section 21 - Additional accommodation works

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Section 22 - Constructions of railway crossing public road

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Section 23 - Certification of a new railway

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Section 24 - Principles of operation

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Section 25 - Borrowing powers

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Section 26 - Annual accounts

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Section 27 - Annual report and financial year

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Section 28 - Liability for loss of life, etc., of passengers

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Section 29 - No liability for delay in arrival of passengers, etc.

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Section 30 - Liability for loss of goods

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Section 31 - Liability for delay, etc., of goods

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Section 32 - Limitation of liability for animals

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Section 33 - Limitation of liability for loss, etc., of specific articles

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Section 35 - Limitation of liability by contract

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Section 36 - Liability for loss of goods, etc.

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Section 37 - Limitation of liability for loss, etc., of goods deposited in cloakroom

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Section 38 - Corporation may determine conditions for the carriage of passengers and luggage

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Section 39 - General right of persons to be carried as passengers

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Section 40 - General conditions on which tickets, etc., issued

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Section 41 - Persons without valid ticket, etc., may be removed from train, etc.

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Section 42 - Fares, etc., payable by persons travelling without a valid ticket, etc.

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Section 43 - Conditions of carriage of luggage

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Section 44 - Corporation may determine conditions for carriage of goods, etc.

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Section 45 - General right to have goods carried

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Section 47 - Goods may be sold to pay fares, rates, etc.

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Section 48 - Unclaimed goods in possession of the Corporation

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Section 49 - Indemnity where goods claimed by two persons, etc.

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