National Rail Safety Investigations in Australia International Rail Safety Conference Vancouver – Oct 2013 Tony Simes Manager - Rail Coordinator ATSB

Introduction Significant reform to rail safety regulation and investigation in Australia. From 20 January 2013 –A new national rail safety regulator –A national rail safety investigator – expanded role for the ATSB –The ATSB has also taken on the role as the lead agency receiving notifications for the more serious incidents involving derailment, collision, death and serious injury.

Railways in Australia Railways in Australia date back to Australia’s early colonial days first railway in Australia –Newcastle (New South Wales) - privately owned first government owned railway –South Australia

Railways in Australia Federation of Australia - 1 January 1901 –six colonies along with two federal territories collectively became part the Commonwealth of Australia –Each colony kept their systems of government but a federal government was developed to take responsibility for matters concerning the whole nation. –Individual colonies were very cautious about delegating power to a national government, a condition that exists in Australia to this day. The vote on federal control of railways was narrowly lost, so the railways remained a State responsibility. Railways continued to expand, but; –each State adopted different track standards –different track gauges required a change of train for journeys between capital cities.

Railways in Australia Narrow gauge –(1067 mm or 3 ft. 6 in.) Standard gauge –(1435 mm or 4 ft. 8 ½ in.) Broad gauge –(1600 mm or 5 ft. 3 in.) a continuous standard gauge railway was available between all five mainland capital cities to Darwin

Rail Safety Regulation in Australia 1995 – State based rail safety regulators –Seven different rail safety regulators, each administering different State based laws and processes to regulate safety for Australia’s rail system. About a third of Australia’s rail industry had operations across multiple States, requiring them to deal with two or more regulators States agree to the establishment of a national regulator 20 January Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator

Rail Safety Investigation in Australia The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) Independent from transport regulators, policy makers and service providers 2003 – National operations over interstate rail network 20 January 2013 – expanded role to also incorporate metropolitan and intrastate railway lines Accident Investigations –Aviation –Marine –Rail Research

Incident notification 2003 – Rail operators notify one of seven different rail safety regulators –dependent which state the incident occurred –The regulators would on-report the more serious incidents to the ATSB for consideration to investigate 20 January 2013 – Rail operators notify the more serious incidents directly to the ATSB –Single notification agency nation wide –The ATSB on-reports to the national regulator –More consistent national incident data –Opportunity for better analysis and identification of safety trends and patterns –Opportunity to discover and prevent broader, systemic safety problems

SafetyWatch In late 2012, the ATSB introduced its SafetyWatch initiative SafetyWatch highlights the broad safety concerns that have come out of investigation findings and analysis of incident data. There are a series of nine identified safety concerns across the aviation, rail and maritime modes of transport in Australia. Safe work on rail –The ATSB has investigated several accidents that have occurred when maintenance work was being carried out on or near railway tracks

Safeworking incident – Newbridge, NSW May 2010 A passenger train had just departed Bathurst and was travelling towards Newbridge, a track distance of about 31 km About 2 minutes later, a work crew was granted authority to work on track about 2 km from Newbridge After a further 25 minutes, the train approached the work site An excavator was on track, but due to a curve in the track was not visible to the train driver until about 95 metres away The train collided with the excavator and a worker was fatally injured X Worksite Train direction

What the ATSB found The rules and procedures were generally OK, but in this case; –Neither the Protection Officer nor the Network Control Officer positively identified the location and type of worksite. –Both incorrectly concluded that the train had already passed beyond the limits of the worksite. –The workers accessed the danger zone before additional site protection measures (detonators and flags) had been put in place The authority form was deficient Ineffective communication The workers were relatively inexperienced Their training had not specifically discuss the relevant hazards and protections

What has been done Reinforcement of the rules, procedures and training Revised form that provides for the recording of critical information regarding the location and type of worksite Safety message –It is essential that information critical to the safe implementation of a work authority be clearly communicated between the Protection Officer and the Network Control Officer. –It is also essential that workers do not access the track until all levels of worksite protection have been fully implemented.

SafetyWatch – Safe work on rail SafetyWatch provides information and strategies to help manage risk areas along with links to safety resources. –Safe working on track requires a high level of preparation and organisation –Coordination and clear communication are essential –Adequate briefing to the track workers –Ensure that all levels of worksite protection have been fully implemented before commencing work on or near the track The ATSB will add or remove topics to reflect current information on safety trends and occurrences.

Conclusion The Australian system of rail safety regulation and investigation has undergone significant reform over recent years. –A national rail safety regulator –ATSB recognized as the national rail safety investigator A more national focus on rail safety –Rail transport a major role to play in Australia’s national economy –Logical that the safety of a system having such national importance be managed with a national focus A single point of call for incident notifications –Ability to improve assessment and analysis of incident data –Prevention of broader, systemic safety problems ATSB has initiated SafetyWatch

Thankyou