Section 6(1) of the Railways Act 1993 (which prohibits any person from acting as the operator of a railway asset unless authorised by a licence under section 8 of that Act) shall not apply in relation to—
any network constructed in exercise of the powers conferred by this Act which is not yet ready for commercial use, or
any train being used on any such network.
For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), a network shall be taken to be ready for commercial use only if the Secretary of State has laid before Parliament notice of his determination that it is ready for such use.
Any expression used in this section and Part 1 of the Railways Act 1993 has the same meaning in this section as it has in that Part.