21 Feb 2025
AS 7633 Railway Infrastructure Clearances – Review
The closing date for nominations – Thursday 6 March 2025
The Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board (RISSB) is seeking nominations to join a Development Group to review AS 7633 Railway Infrastructure Clearances.
How will this help the rail industry?
AS 7633 helps the rail industry manage safety risks arising from the interaction between rail infrastructure and rolling stock.
The standard does this by providing a systematic approach for calculating clearances, including rolling stock outlines, kinematic envelopes, and contingency margins. It outlines mandatory requirements and preferred recommendations for compliance, and covers the entire lifecycle of rail infrastructure.
AS 7633 ensures that rail infrastructure clearances are managed to maintain safety, accommodate various rolling stock, and mitigate operational risks. It sets minimum clearance standards to ensure safe operation between rolling stock and trackside structures, as well as between rolling stock on adjacent tracks.
About
The objective of this review is to confirm AS 7633 continues to manage the risks to safety arising from the interface between rail infrastructure and rolling stock during railway operations. This Standard establishes general principles for railway infrastructure managers to manage clearances throughout the asset lifecycle, specifies a system for calculating appropriate clearances, and provides recommended dimensions.
It sets out the minimum clearance standards for safe operation between:
- rolling stock (including loads) and trackside structures and equipment; and
- rolling stock (including loads) on adjacent tracks.
This Standard uses key inputs from AS 7507. It excludes temporary structures such as formwork and scaffolding covered by special operating conditions, vegetation control, expendable rolling stock items covered in AS 7507 and tram tracks, cane railways and monorail networks.
Time commitment
Development Group membership is voluntary and requires the support of your organisation to attend and contribute. There will be a minimum of four meetings held between March and May 2025. Further information on the responsibilities of a Development Group member can be obtained from the RISSB Website.
How to contribute
Stakeholders and interested parties are invited to submit nominations for Subject Matter Experts to join this Development Group to contribute to the overall depth and quality of the product.
All nominations and enquiries are to be submitted to Iaen Hodges, Standards Development Manager at ihodges@rissb.com.au.
As part of your nomination, please provide a brief including your contact details, your organisation (if applicable) with your position title, your interest in this development (for example, materially affected party, subject matter expert etc) and any other information which supports your participation. This information will assist RISSB in ensuring balanced representation in the development of this document.
The closing date for nominations is Thursday 6 March 2025.
As the rail industry’s accredited Standards Development Organisation (SDO), RISSB continues to collaborate with government, rail operators and industry leaders to improve the efficiency and harmonisation of the Australia and New Zealand’s rail network, ensuring national interoperability, safety and sustainability into the future.