ITSRR Annual Report 2004 - 05 1 Contents
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The Hon John Watkins MP Deputy Premier Minister for Transport Minister for State Development Parliament House Macquarie Street Sydney NSW 2000 Dear Minister It is my pleasure to submit to you for presentation to Parliament the Annual Report for 2004-05 of the Independ- ent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator (ITSRR), which also includes the Annual Rail Industry Safety Report and the Annual Reliability Report for 2004-05. The report highlights the signifi cant work undertaken during the year to consolidate ITSRR as a rail safety regula- tor and reliability advisor, including investigative work by ITSRR and the Offi ce of Transport Safety Investigations (OTSI). The report has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Annual Reports (Statutory Bodies) Act 1984, the Annual Reports (Statutory Bodies) Regulation 2000, the Rail Safety Act 2002, the Transport Administra- tion Act 1988 and the Public Finance and Audit Act 1983. Yours sincerely Carolyn Walsh Chief Executive ITSRR Annual Report 2004 - 05 1 Contents 1. Letter to Minister..................................................................................................1 2. Chief Executive’s Report.......................................................................................3 3. ITSRR Advisory Board Chairman’s Report..............................................................5 4. About the Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator.........................6 5. ITSRR’s Achievements and Challenges of 2004-05................................................7 6. Overview of Rail Safety in NSW in 2004-05..........................................................9 7. Governance and Management Systems...............................................................11 8. About ITSRR’s Executive Management Team.......................................................15 9. About ITSRR’s Advisory Board.............................................................................17 10. Report on Achievments of 2004-05 Corporate Plan Priorities..............................18 11. ITSRR’s Key Functions.........................................................................................19 12. ITSRR’s Organisational Chart...............................................................................20 13. Forward directions - ITSRR Corporate Plan 2005-06.............................................21 14. Overview of ITSRR’s Divisions (services, results and forward directions)................22 - Transport Safety Regulation Division..................................................................22 - Service Reliability Division..................................................................................26 - Corporate Strategy Division...............................................................................27 - Business Services Division..................................................................................28 - Offi ce of Transport Safety Investigations............................................................30 15. Transport Industry Overview................................................................................32 16. NSW Rail Industry Safety Report..........................................................................38 17. NSW Transport Reliability Report.........................................................................64 18. Financial Report, including summary...................................................................90 19. Appendices......................................................................................................114 20. Index................................................................................................................129 2 ITSRR Annual Report 2004 - 05 Chief Executive’s Report The Independent Transport Safety NSW Government’s response to and Reliability Regulator (ITSRR) the recommendations in the Final has been operating since 1 January Report of the Special Commission 2004. This Annual Report therefore of Inquiry (SCOI) into the Waterfall provides an overview of the activi- Rail Accident. The Government’s re- ties and achievements of ITSRR for sponse to the Inquiry was released its fi rst complete year of operation. in February 2005. ITSRR published It also incorporates two further the fi rst quarterly report on its reports that ITSRR is required to implementation in April 2005. The present under the Transport Ad- quarterly reports detail the progress ministration Act 1988: the Annual of implementation for each re- Rail Safety Report and the Annual sponsible agency and identify any ITSRR Chief Executive, Carolyn Walsh Transport Reliability Report. slippage in the implementation of the recommendations. By end June During the 2004-05 year, ITSRR 2005, 26 recommendations had focused its activity in the following been verifi ed by ITSRR as having four main areas: safety regulation, been implemented. A further 26 reliability monitoring, communica- recommendations have been noti- tion with the rail industry and fi ed to ITSRR by operators as having capacity building. been implemented. ITSRR has yet In the area of safety regulation, to verify these. ITSRR’s primary role is to administer In 2004-05 ITSRR assisted in the rail safety legislation to facilitate development of further reforms to the safe operation of rail services the rail safety regulation framework in NSW. There are currently 70 rail which culminated in the Transport operators accredited by ITSRR in Legislation Amendment (Waterfall NSW. ITSRR ensures each ac- Rail Inquiry Recommendations) Act credited operator has the capacity 2005. One of the key elements of and competence to safely manage this legislation was the operational its rail operations. This is done separation of the Offi ce of Trans- by conducting compliance audits port Safety Investigations (OTSI) and inspections and following up from ITSRR. OTSI commenced as a with any necessary enforcement separate agency on 1 July 2005. action, including non-statutory notices (e.g. Notices of Emerg- Other major regulatory activities ing Safety Concern, Rail Industry have been the development of the Safety Notices and Information National Accreditation Package Alerts), and statutory notices (e.g. for consistent rail accreditation Improvement Notices and Prohibi- throughout Australia, the introduc- tion Notices). In 2004-05 ITSRR tion of improved medical standards collected monthly, and published for NSW train operating staff, quarterly, data on fatalities, derail- and improved data collection and ments, collisions, broken rails and reporting through the adoption of SPADs (Signals Passed at Danger). consistent data classifi cation of rail incidents across Australia. ITSRR’s safety regulation focus has included monitoring and report- The second main area of activity ing on the implementation of the during the year was the provision ITSRR Annual Report 2004 - 05 3 of advice on reliability which the positive co-operation of the includes: public transport service rail industry. I have also greatly performance, asset sustainability of appreciated the ongoing support, the Government’s rail businesses, advice and encouragement of the and performance issues in Govern- Advisory Board. ment rail businesses which may indicate potential safety issues. In I thank them all for their work over 2004-05 ITSRR provided advice on the past year, and look forward to the implementation of the RailCorp continuing the task of improving timetable, published its fi rst annual rail safety, and coordinating safety survey of CityRail customers, and across all transport modes. provided advice on the asset sus- tainability of NSW rail operations. Carolyn Walsh The third area of focus was com- Chief Executive munication with the rail industry, operators and unions. In 2004-05 ITSRR held quarterly Executive Safety Seminars, a series of work- shops for industry to explain recent regulatory changes, initiated the publication of an electronic news service entitled “Transport Advisory Weekly;” published a Quarterly Newsletter, and remodelled its website to ensure all relevant information is easy to locate. The fourth and fi nal activity on which ITSRR focused its activi- ties was capacity building of the organisation. ITSRR completed the recruitment of its full comple- ment of staff. The commitment to ongoing staff development was demonstrated with the training of 26 authorised offi cers, and the pro- vision of support to some 30 staff to undertake a Graduate Certifi cate in Transport Safety at the University of NSW School of Safety Science. ITSRR is also well advanced with the development of information and management systems to support its regulatory functions. ITSRR’s successes to date are largely due to the skill, dedication and commitment of its staff, and 4 ITSRR Annual Report 2004 - 05 ITSRR Advisory Board Chairman’s Report Since the Waterfall rail accident Corporation and Queensland As a result, from July 2005, the in January 2003, a great deal of Rail; Board will not advise OTSI on its attention has been paid to enhanc- • ITSRR’s response to investigation reports. The Chief ing safety management skills and the National Transport Executive of ITSRR may, however, expertise across the rail sector. This Commission’s discussion paper continue to seek the Board’s views of course, applies as much to the on risk tolerability in rail safety on OTSI reports in order to provide skills of the safety regulator as it regulation; ITSRR, as the regulator, with advice does to rail operators. in relation