In the United Kingdom "light railway" refers in its strictest sense to a railway built or operated under the 1896 Light Railways Act. That Act, though, gives only a vague description; a better one is found from John Charles MacKay in the same year: ""A light railway is one constructed with lighter rails and structures, running at a slower speed, with poorer accommodation for passengers and less facility for freight. It can be worked with less stringent standards of signalling and safety practice. It is a cheap railway and a second class of railway."" These terms are not pejorative, they simply recognise that the standards of main-line heavy railways are not needed in all situations. Their great advantage under UK law was that they avoided the need for an expensive act of parliament before each new line; they only required a much simpler Light Railway Order within the terms of the Act.