11 Oct 2024
AS 1085 Railway Track Materials – bulk update progress report
RISSB’s bulk review program for a series of historical standards demonstrates our continued drive to provide best value, and efficient use of time and resources for our members.
RISSB is making progress on a bulk review program for a series of historical standards on behalf of members of the industry who continue to include the use of the older style railway track materials as part of their networks.
AS 1085 Railway Track Materials has seven remaining products that include technical requirements for track materials with limited or historical application.
After undertaking an assessment of our product review process and aligning it with our accreditation requirements as a Standards Development Organisation, it was deemed appropriate to complete a bulk review process.
The approach was then endorsed by the Infrastructure Standing Committee and approved by the RISSB Board. All seven (7) Standards were released for a period of public consultation in June 2024. While they were available for industry, key suppliers and impacted member representatives from the tourist and heritage operators were approached to provide direct feedback.
This process allowed RISSB to determine no changes are required to Parts 4, 7,8 and 13 and these re-issued with endorsement by the Infrastructure Standing Committee and approval for publication during the September RISSB Board meeting. These products will be published on the website in the coming weeks.
A review program has commenced for Parts 2, 3 and 10.
A development group was called in July 2024 which will complete the targeted review scope for all three products by early 2025. By taking this bulk review approach, it has potentially saved years in effort and resulted in improved and updated Standard products available to the rail industry in a shorter period of time.
This exercise shows RISSBs continued drive to provide best value for its members, applying an efficient use of time and resource effort, focusing activities at the required level and utilising expertise within our member organisations to update these older Standards to gain the best outcome.