16Powers relating to construction etc. of railways

#### 16 Powers relating to construction etc. of railways (1) The Commission may, for purposes connected with the construction, maintenance, alteration or repair of a railway: (a) enter on, and occupy, any land (including land owned or occupied by the Commonwealth or a State or Territory); and (b) on, over or under land so entered or occupied, do any act or thing necessary or convenient for those purposes, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing: (i) diverting or altering, temporarily or permanently, the course of any watercourse; (ii) raising or lowering, temporarily or permanently, the level of any watercourse or other body of water; (iii) placing any plant, machinery, equipment or goods; (iv) taking or depositing sand, clay, stone, earth, gravel, timber, wood or other materials or things; (v) felling or lopping trees and clearing or removing other vegetation or undergrowth; (vi) making cuttings, embankments, excavations or tunnels; (vii) manufacturing or working materials, goods or things; (viii) erecting temporary workshops, sheds or other buildings; (ix) constructing roads or bridges; (x) temporarily closing, diverting or narrowing any road; (xi) breaking the surface of any road for the purpose of laying down railway tracks, drains, pipes, cables, wires and other things; (xii) altering the position of any main, pipe, cable or wire; (xiii) taking water from any watercourse or other body of water; and (xiv) demolishing, destroying or removing any plant, machinery, equipment, goods, workshop, shed or building placed or erected on the land in pursuance of this subsection. (2) The Commission shall, before exercising its powers under subsection (1) in relation to any land, give reasonable notice, in writing, of its intention to do so to: (a) the owner of the land; and (b) if the land is occupied by a person other than the owner of the land—the occupier of the land. (3) A notice under subsection (2) in relation to land shall specify the purpose for which the Commission intends to exercise its powers under subsection (1) in relation to the land. (4) The Commission shall not, in the exercise of its powers under subsection (1): (a) close, divert or narrow, or break the surface of, a road; (b) alter the position of any water, sewerage or gas main or pipe; or (c) alter the position of any electricity cable or wire; or (d) alter the position of any line (within the meaning of the Telecommunications Act 1997); unless it has given reasonable notice, in writing, of its intention to do so to the authority having the care and management of the road, main, pipe, cable, wire or line. (5) In this section, watercourse includes any river, stream, ditch, drain or other channel or passage through which water flows.