2024-25 Annual Fees
For the 2024-25 financial year, fees will continue to be calculated using the established method of fixed registration and accreditation fees plus a variable fee based on track and train kilometres reported in each jurisdiction.
These fees cover the cost of regulating rail safety around Australia.
Annual fees have been held flat in recent years to aid the Australian rail industry’s ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and throughout this period, ONRSR passed on cost savings (due to reduced travel and operating costs) to industry worth in excess of $5 million.
- 2018-19 – Cost of Regulation permanently reduced by $1M
- 2020-21 – Cost of Regulation reduced by $635K as CPI not applied
- 2021-22 – $2.3M once-off fee rebate passed on to industry from ONRSR identified Covid-related operational savings
- 2022-23 – $1.4M once-off fee rebate passed on to industry from ONRSR identified Covid-related operational savings
- 2023-24 – CPI not applied and 2022/23 $1.4M Covid rebate was applied again
In looking to 2024-25, significant effort has gone into keeping fees as low as possible while ensuring the ongoing effectiveness of ONRSR via:
- A reduced 2022-23 CPI rate of 5% (instead of 6.6%) – ONRSR to deliver ongoing efficiency savings of $700,000.
- Reducing government contributions by 5% instead of 10%
- Decreasing the overall cost of regulation by increasing the major projects fee off set provision from $1.3m to $1.98m
For more information on how fees are calculated, refer to the About the Cost Recovery Model Fact Sheet located in the Related Content section below.
Transition to a national cost recovery model
In late 2023, Infrastructure and Transport Ministers asked the new Chief Executive and Regulator to review the proposed cost recovery model with a view to presenting a revised approach to Ministers by the end of 2024.
The revised model will “re-set” the cost of regulation to ensure it reflects how rail safety regulation can be delivered in the most efficient and effective way possible.
