RISSB Connect Edition 80, December 2024

Edition 80, December 2024

It’s been two years since the communique from the Infrastructure and Transport Ministers’ Meeting (ITMM) held on 9 December 2022 was released, containing among other items, that

‘Ministers agreed the NTC focus on five priority areas identified as critical pain points for the industry. These are: identifying the best mechanisms for codifying a small number of critical national standards and complementary rules to make rail more competitive; aligning train control and signalling technology on the eastern seaboard; reducing the burden on drivers, crew, and maintenance workers; streamlining rolling stock approval regimes and identifying the national/international pathways for digital skills required in Australia in the next five years.’

There’s been a great deal of work happening since that time on those five priority areas, and what I’ve learned in more recent times is that as difficult as I expect it will be, the mandatory standards will be the ‘easy’ bit! In my opinion, there is far greater complexity and difficulty in resolving the many regulatory, funding and policy issues – with the almost inevitable variations that exist for each State and Territory.

But we also need to recognise that the development of mandatory standards is likely to require changes to the established processes employed by RISSB for non-mandatory standards.  These processes have served industry well, but for the development of mandatory standards – that effectively become part of the Law - RISSB will need to review and likely amend its processes, and we’ve got plenty of experience to call upon at the (UK) RSSB and (Europe) UIC.

The other perhaps unintended (positive) consequence of governments’ push for greater industry reform is what I’m witnessing almost daily, and that is the energy and momentum for greater harmonisation and interoperability across a whole range of industry opportunities – not just the five priority areas identified by Ministers. 

I was fortunate to attend an industry forum this week organised by the NSW Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE) to develop a more cohesive approach across industry for investing, for information sharing, and ongoing support for remote condition monitoring equipment. Australia has developed some world-class approaches to remote condition monitoring, resulting in significant improvements in asset reliability and safety.  Further growth in rail modal share will be very much dependent on further improving asset reliability and network resilience, and so a more coordinated approach to remote condition monitoring is recognised as a critical component of driving those improvements. And a piece of unashamed self-promotion – RISSB and industry has developed a comprehensive condition monitoring guideline that can be further enhanced through standardising best-practice approaches and wider industry adoption.

We really are now entering the action phase of this new round of industry reforms. RISSB and industry stand ready to contribute its collective subject matter expertise and standards development expertise to ensure that the reforms deliver the greatest benefit in the shortest possible time.

RISSB PRODUCT UPDATES

Progress report - Code of Practice Rail Safety Investigations  

The Development Group for the Code of Practice Rail Safety Investigations is close to finalising the draft document, following its latest meeting on 27 November 2024. Facilitated by Michael Maartensz, RISSB Standards Development Manager, this was the 12^th meeting of the group since it was established. The group aims to produce a document that promotes a just culture approach to rail safety investigations and applying a standard method of investigation to all rail safety occurrences. 

The Code of Practice will be of great benefit to the Australian rail industry as it provides the basis of a common approach to the investigation of occurrences.

Seven products published in December

This month we have finalised and published several product reviews, and delivered a new Australian Standard and a new Code of Practice. All these products are aimed at improving safety across the Australian Railway Industry, through improvements to the requirements and recommendations within the individual projects. The detailed product release notes describe the objective and scope, and advice on the adoption and implementation of those products.

• AS 1085.2 Railway Track Material – Fishplates (Review)
• AS 1082.3 Railway Track Material – Sleeper Plates (Review)
• AS 1085.10 Railway Track Material – Rail Anchors (Review)
• AS 7470 Human Factor Integration and Technical Requirements for Rail Engineering Projects (Review)
• AS 7489 Rolling Stock Passenger Seating and Appointments (New Australian Standard)
• Code of Practice – Risk Management for Driver Only Operations. (New Code of Practice)
• AS 7510.2 Braking Systems – Hauled Rolling Stock (Review)

Don't forget to register for Horizons 2025 - places are filling up fast!

TRAINING AND EVENTS

We're taking a break in January 2025

Thank you readers for your support throughout the year. RISSB Connect will be back in February 2025. The RISSB Team wishes you a safe and happy festive season!