16Accommodation works

(1) A railway administration shall make and maintain the following works for the accommodation of the owners and occupiers of lands adjoining the railway, namely:--

(a) such crossings, bridges, culverts and passages over, under or by the sides of, or leading to or from, the railway as may, in the opinion of the State Government, be necessary for the purpose of making good any interruptions caused by the railway to the use of the lands through which the railway is made; and

(b) all necessary bridges, tunnels, culverts, drains, water sources or other passages, over, under or by the sides of the railway, of such dimensions as will, in the opinion of the State Government, be sufficient at all times to convey water as freely from or to the lands lying near or affected by the railway as it was before the making of the railway or as nearly as possible.

(2) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the works specified in sub-section (1) shall be made at the cost of the railway administration during or immediately after the laying out or formation of the railway over the lands traversed and in such a manner as to cause as little damage or inconvenience as possible to persons interested in the lands or affected by the works:

Provided that--

(a) a railway administration shall not be required to make any administration shall be liable to execute any further or additional the working or using of the railway, or to make any accommodation works with respect to which the owners or occupiers of the lands have been paid compensation in consideration of their not requiring the said works to be made;

(b) save as hereinafter, in this Chapter, provided, no railway administration shall be liable to execute any further or additional accommodation works for the use of the owners or occupiers of the lands after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the railway passing through the lands was first opened for public traffic;

(c) where a railway administration has provided suitable accommodation work for the crossing of a road or stream and the road or stream is afterwards diverted by the act or neglect of the person having the control thereof, the railway administration shall not be compelled to provide any other accommodation work for the crossing of such road or stream.

(3) The State Government may specify a date for the commencement of any work to be executed under sub-section (1) and, if within three months next after that date, the railway administration fails to commence the work or having commenced it, fails to proceed diligently to execute it, the Central Government shall, on such failure being brought to its notice by the State Government, issue such directions to the railway administration as it thinks fit.

Explanation.-- For the purposes of this section, the expression lands shall include public roads.