legislative council select committee on train services · legislative council select committee on...

Legislative CouncilSelect Committee on Train Services

Alan OsborneDirector, Public Transport Safety

Chris McKeownGeneral Manager Safety Systems

Rail safety regulation

› Operators required to comply with the Victorian Rail Safety Act 2006

› Essentially requires the safety accreditation of rail operators and monitoring ongoing performance

› Key priority is the prevention of catastrophic train accidents

Rail accidents – Australian focus

› A 10 year chronology of significant accidents….

Glenbrook, NSW – December 1999

Source: Emergency Management NSW – downloaded on 2/09/09 from:http://www.emergency.nsw.gov.au/content.php/646.html

Holmesglen, Vic. – July 2000

Source: Department of Transport

Footscray, Vic. – June 2001

Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau

Epping, Vic. – June 2002

Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau

Epping – Additional view

Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau

Waterfall, NSW – January 2003

Source: The Age

Broadmeadows, Vic. - February 2003

Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau

Trawalla, Vic. - April 2006

Source: Railpage.com.au

Kerang, Vic. - June 2007

Source: Daily Telegraph

Reduction in system type events over the last 3 years

› Rail Safety Act 2006 (Vic) represented an incremental improvement in rail system safety

› Kerang accident has been the most serious accident since the Act came into operation - a road accident which seriously impacted on the rail system

We must remain vigilant

› Management of issues which could lead to serious events eg:› broken rails (derailment risk)› track buckling (derailment risk)› tri-colour signals (collision risk)› train braking (collision risk)

Broken rail performance over 3 years

Track & civil infrastructure irregularity - broken rail

57

3

9 10

18 1816

0

5

10

15

20

25

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

2007200820092007 Trend2008 Trend2009 Trend

Heavy rail Victoria 2007 - 2009

Trend: M oving average 3mthSource: PTSV Occurrence Database. Data as reported to PTSV from Accredited Operator.

Buckled track performance over 3 years

Track & civil infrastructure irregularity - buckled track

29

5

1 0 1 03

00

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

2007200820092007 Trend2008 Trend2009 Trend

Heavy rail Victoria 2007 - 2009

Trend: M oving average 3mthSource: PTSV Occurrence Database. Data as reported to PTSV from Accredited Operator.

Derailment performance over 3 years

Derailments - running line

3

0 0

2

0

2

0 00

1

2

3

4

5

6

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

2007200820092007 Trend2008 Trend2009 Trend

Heavy rail Victoria 2007 - 2009

Trend: M oving average 3mthSource: PTSV Occurrence Database. Data as reported to PTSV from Accredited Operator.

SPAD performance over 3 years

Signals passed at danger - human error

7

1

2

7

6

3 3

9

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

2007200820092007 Trend2008 Trend2009 Trend

Heavy rail Victoria 2007 - 2009

Trend: M oving average 3mthSource: PTSV Occurrence Database. Data as reported to PTSV from Accredited Operator.

Human error SPADs include driver misjudged, completely missed while running and starting against signal. Excludes other.

Management of rail safety

› Maintaining good engineering inspection regimes to monitor event precursors

› Putting safety ahead of operational performance› Using speed restrictions to manage safety with

identified problems› Recent international accidents provide examples

of where this has not occurred….

Chatsworth, LA – September 2008

Source: Los Angeles Times ‘Federal inquiry into Chatworth finds rail oversight woefully inadequate’

Washington – June 2009

Source: The Telegraph

Dublin - August 2009

Source: Irish Independent‘Calls for major investigation into rail safety’

Importance of safety culture

› We have a good operational safety culture in the rail network in Victoria

› This means safety performance must come ahead of operational performance

› It is very important that this continues

Summary

› PTSV is proactively monitoring the safety performance of Victoria’s railways

› We have seen a reduction of system type accidents in Victoria over the last 3 years

› We must though continue to be vigilant› This has required the rail network to slow

down or stop on occasions