Thursday, March 16, 2023
Safety Forum shines light on Illawarra Range
ONRSR has hosted representatives of some of the largest rail transport operators in Australia at a forum dedicated to optimising safety in one of the nation’s busiest rail corridors.
The focus of the event, held in Sydney earlier this month, was to address safety issues arising from uncontrolled rolling stock movements and derailments on the Illawarra Range. Hosted by ONRSR, the forum featured participation from ARTC as the rail infrastructure manager and rolling stock operators, Pacific National, Aurizon, Qube, Holdco and Sydney Rail Services.
Those in attendance discussed current working practices, safety issues identified from ONRSR investigations and explored better practices for operating in this unique environment.
The occasion also provided ONRSR an opportunity to further develop its educational offerings as the diverse group was taken through detailed information and guidance on how to address specific safety issues.
The forum identified train handling, asset maintenance and fatigue management as key to improving railway operations on the Illawarra Range, while rail transport operators were also able to discuss improvements to the risk management arrangements currently in place.
The participants have now recognised there is a need to develop an ongoing workgroup to discuss and manage risks and ARTC has taken the lead in coordinating ongoing discussions.
At the completion of the forum each operator was asked to review their risk registers and safety interface agreements. Individual rail transport operators’ responses will be monitored by the responsible General Managers from each ONRSR office to ensure risks are satisfactorily addressed.