An introduction to your obligations under the Rail Safety Act 2008
General Rail Safety Duties
Persons carrying out railway operations – other than those carrying out railway operations as rail safety workers or employees – have a general duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of those railway operations. This means taking a proactive approach to managing safety risks.
‘Railway operations’ means:
- the construction of a railway, railway tracks and associated track structures or rolling stock
- the management, commissioning, maintenance, repair, modification, installation, operation or decommissioning of rail infrastructure
- the commissioning, maintenance, repair, modification, or decommissioning of rolling stock
- the operation or movement (or causing the operation or movement) by any means, of rolling stock on a railway (including for the purposes of construction or restoration of rail infrastructure)
- the movement, or causing the movement, of rolling stock for the purposes of operating a railway service.
- by, or on behalf of, a rail transport operator who is accredited by ITSRR, or who is exempt from the requirement to be accredited; or
- by a person who is otherwise exempt from the requirement to be accredited under the Act.
Accreditation by ITSRR
The Rail Safety Act 2008 requires NSW rail transport operators to be accredited by the Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator (ITSRR), or exempt from the requirement to be accredited under the Act. A rail transport operator is a person who is a rail infrastructure manager or a rolling stock operator, or both.
All railway operations in NSW must be carried out:
Safety Management Systems
Rail transport operators must have a safety management system for railway operations for which they are required to be accredited. Persons carrying out railway operations on behalf of a rail transport operator must comply with that operator’s safety management system.
The Rail Safety Act 2008 has other requirements including obligations relating to health and fitness management, drug and alcohol management, fatigue management, rail safety worker competence and interface co-ordination.
Compliance with the Act
ITSRR monitors compliance with the requirements of the Rail Safety Act 2008 through compliance inspections and investigations. It also audits accredited rail transport operators and persons carrying out railway operations on their behalf.
Fact Sheets
Fact sheets cover requirements under the rail safety legislation and issues of interest to the rail industry. Topics covered include accreditation, general duties, drug and alcohol testing, implementation of recommendations from the inquiry into the Waterfall Rail Accident, safety management systems and ITSRR's independence.