Public Transport Safety Victoria Annual Safety Review 2007 Victoria was the first State to introduce the Rail Safety Act on 1 August 2006. 2006-07 performance outcomes The central theme for Public Transport > The Bus Accreditation and Audit team Safety Victoria (PTSV) outcomes for conducted 961 bus compliance audits 2006-07 is the successful implementation under the requirements of the Public and administration of the Rail Safety Transport Competition Act 1995. Act 2006. In accordance with this theme These audits are designed to ensure the following are some of the highlights that operators are: of PTSV’s first full year of operation: – meeting the standards and conditions > PTSV developed an Accreditation of accreditation Guideline which provides guidance on – complying with maintenance the accreditation aspects of the new management systems rail safety legislation including risk – complying with management and change management. information systems > PTSV developed and agreed a series – having their buses inspected by an of milestones for commercial rail independent tester every 12 months. operators to achieve during the two year > The Rail Audit and Compliance team phase in period. conducted 42 safety audits. These audits > PTSV is developing a catastrophic are designed to ensure that operators: risk model and Contributing Factors – meet competency standards for rail Framework to enable more sophisticated safety workers analysis of incident trends and data. – meet maintenance standards > Victoria was the first state to introduce – have self audit systems in place the Rail Safety Act on 1 August 2006. – risk registers are regularly reviewed and that controls are complied with. 1 Contents 2006-07 performance outcomes 01 Director’s foreword 04 Vision and mandate 06 Governance 09 Background 10 Our organisation 12 2006-07 acheivements 14 Rail 19 Bus 23 Looking ahead 27 Appendix one – heavy rail safety statistics 31 Appendix two – tram safety statistics 33 Appendix three – bus safety statistics 34 Appendix four – significant train/tram /bus incidents 35 Appendix five – Improvement notices issued 2006-07 35 Appendix six – output performance measures 36 Data sources for industry statistics 37 Acronyms ARA Australasian Railway Association AQTF Australian Qualification Training Framework CFF Contributing Factors Framework COAG Council of Australian Governments DCQP Data Collection Quality Project DIRN Defined Interstate Railway Network DOI Department of Infrastructure ERS Electronic Reporting System ITSRR Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator LBT Licensed Bus Tester MMS Maintenance Management System NTC National Transport Commission NCR Non Conformance Report PTSV Public Transport Safety Victoria RRM Rail Resource Management RSRP Rail Safety Regulators’ Panel TSAARS Transport Safety Accreditation Audit and Reporting System TSO Transport Safety Officer VCAT Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal 3 Our objective is to build upon an already good safety record of rail and bus transport in Victoria. Director’s foreword It is an honour and a privilege to A number of new processes and procedures We must reflect on the tragic fatal rail introduce Public Transport Safety have been created within PTSV to enable accident at Kerang in June 2007 in which Victoria’s first Annual Safety Review. the effective administration of the rail 11 people were killed when a truck collided The purpose of these annual reviews is safety legislation, along with the creation with a passenger train at a level crossing. to give our stakeholders an account of of a new brand identity and communication The accident is still under investigation by PTSV’s work over the year and to provide a mechanisms such as our new website. various authorities. A number of initiatives platform for the regulator to reflect on this PTSV has also contributed to the bus safety have begun to address road driver behaviour vital industry, and to flag future priorities as legislative review with the intention that at level crossings. we see them. any new legislation should build on the The priorities for PTSV next year are to: It has been a busy year for PTSV following successes of the current safety legislation. > achieve the final milestones for each rail the formation of the new statutory office The bus industry in Victoria has a very good operator to maintain its accreditation under the Rail Safety Act 2006. Victoria is the safety record and PTSV is looking forward to > continue to monitor the safety of our first State to put new rail safety legislation in new legislation being developed in 2008 to level crossings place based on national model legislation. provide a refreshed regulatory regime under > prepare for new bus safety legislation which the industry will continue to thrive. This legislation is the first to be enacted in > ensure that safety is a central feature of any Australian jurisdiction to reflect the draft We have also invested in the development the refranchising planning process for legislation developed as part of the Council of our people to ensure that we have the the metropolitan area of Australian Goverments (COAG) directive. right skills and experience to realise our > work with industry on raising the quality vision of being a respected transport safety of accident investigations to ensure that Other States will follow through 2007 and regulator that is proactive and risk-based. maximum learning is gained 2008 and Victoria continues to play a lead We are only at the beginning of this journey > continue to build effective stakeholder role in the national program. PTSV has but we are making good progress. relationships been working closely with the Victorian rail industry to ensure a smooth transition to the The rail industry (which also includes trams) I would like to thank Tom Sargant from the DOI new duties contained in the legislation. in Victoria is rising to the challenge of the who filled the position of Acting Safety Director rail safety legislation and PTSV continues through a crucial period in the lead up to the to monitor industry’s implementation of enactment of the Rail Safety Act 2006. the transitional milestones put in place I am also grateful for the considerable after the rail safety legislation was support we continue to receive by being enacted. Our objective is to build upon an administratively linked to the Department already good safety record of rail and bus of Infrastructure. transport in Victoria. Alan Osborne Director, Public Transport Safety 5 Vision Mandate To be a respected transport To continuously improve safety regulator who is proactive the safety of public transport in Victoria. and risk based. This mandate will be implemented by: PTSV will achieve this by being: > effective regulatory intervention > a credible and industry > proactive risk management respected regulator > targeted communication and education > risk based, prioritised and benefit driven > an agile and responsive organisation > a collaborative and unified organisation 6 Did you know? > Metropolitan train patronage has increased by 23 per cent over the last two financial years. > Metropolitan bus patronage is at a 40 year high. > Patronage on regional trains and coaches has grown by 29 per cent since last financial year. Governance The journey so far... Prior to the 1990s bus services were operated by both government and private operators. Government bus services were progressively privatised from late 1993. Historically tram and rail were operated by the state government via the Public Transport Corporation. In 1998 tram and rail services were corporatised and initially operated as government run businesses and subsequently were privatised in 1999. In 1998, the Office of the Director of Public Transport within the Department of Infrastructure (DOI) administered safety regulation. The office had no powers of prosecution or intermediate enforcement actions, such as issuing prohibition or improvement notices. In 2006 the Office of the Director of Public Transport Safety was established by the Transport Act 1983. The aim was to create a statutory office with greater independence from the government, with powers to regulate, enforce and provide a direct line of accountability for public transport safety in Victoria. PTSV is administratively linked to the DOI and utilises its IT, financial and human resource services. The key DOI governance processes such as its Audit Committee also review PTSV’s risks through its audit mechanisms. PTSV has an Executive Committee which meets every two weeks to ensure that objectives are being achieved and risks to their achievement are effectively managed. 9 Background Rail industry Bus industry Victoria’s rail network is Australia’s second Victoria’s bus industry consists of 1,562 largest with 26 commercial and 19 accredited bus operators overseeing the tourist and heritage accredited operators. operation of more than 9,200 buses. The commercial operators provide all of More than half of these operators provide the state’s passenger and freight services. route, school-bus, touring and charter Operators can be accredited as rolling stock services. The remainder are non-commercial operators and/or rail infrastructure managers operators who provide private, courtesy, under the Rail Safety Act 2006. and hire and drive services. Patronage has increased significantly across The bus industry is currently undergoing the rail sector as the state government a wider regulatory reform process. implements policies aimed at