Background information detailing the scope and methods used to formulate the statistics presented on the ONRSR website.
The current reporting period starts on 1 July 2022 and ends with the last complete quarter, allowing a month for operator reporting to be completed and validated.
For older (historic) data (up to 30 June 2022), click here.
The statistics cover all railway operations in Australia.
The statistics are principally based on notifiable occurrences - the initial written advice of a rail safety incident that a rail transport operator (RTO) submits to ONRSR in accordance with section 121 of the RSNL.
Activity data (for example, train kilometres travelled, or drug and alcohol testing undertaken by industry) is based on monthly returns supplied by RTOs in accordance with section 120(3) of the RSNL. The specific information to be provided is defined in clause 56 of the National Regulations.
Statistics are predominantly based on the incident definitions of the national occurrence classification guideline. For data collected since 1 July 2022, incident definitions are based on the Notifiable Occurrence Reporting Requirements (https://www.onrsr.com.au/opera...).
Variations from the incident definitions provided in the national occurrence classification guideline are described below:
Level crossing collisions with person and level crossing collisions with vehicle – statistics exclude suspected self-harm incidents;
Level crossing near hits with person and level crossing near hits with vehicle – statistics exclude suspected attempted self-harm incidents;
Proceed authority exceeded (PAE) – driver related – statistics are limited to PAEs where the likely cause is driver related, e.g. the driver completely missing the limit of authority;
Proceed authority exceeded (PAE) – infrastructure related – statistics are limited to PAEs where the likely cause is infrastructure related, e.g. signal/sign obstructed or not visible;
Proceed authority exceeded (PAE) – network control error/miscommunication – statistics are limited to PAEs where the likely cause is related to a network control error or miscommunication;
Rolling stock irregularity – wheel / axle – statistics include those occurrences with irregularity type broken wheel, broken axle, and bearing failure;
Track irregularity – broken rail / defect – statistics include those occurrences with irregularity type broken rail and rail defect;
Track irregularity – spread / narrow track – statistics include those occurrences with irregularity type spread track and narrow track;
Person / train interface incident – fall – statistics include those person / train interface occurrences with type fall whilst boarding / alighting, fall from platform onto track, and fall between train and platform.
Train types are as specified within the relevant chart filtering tabs, except for “Other”. In addition to including occurrences involving all other types of rolling stock, “Other” train type also includes a small number of occurrences where the train type is unknown.
The statistics may differ to other sources that utilise the same data and coding specifications. This will be due in part to the data collection and preparation methods used to generate the tables and charts on this website, which included identification and correction of errors in historical data. In addition, the statistics are subject to review and amendment as more information becomes available through investigation or inquiry, or as ONRSR refines its systems for data capture, validation and reporting. This may result in variation between historical and future reports.