PRESENTATION TO PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT

04TH JUNE 2008

NATIONAL RAILWAY SAFETY REGULATOR AMENDMENT

BILL, 2008

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Department

of Transport

The National Railway Safety Regulator Amendment Bill, seek to amend the National Railway Safety Regulator Act, (Act No. 16 of 2002).

The principal Act establishes the Railway Safety Regulator.

The Railway Safety Regulator is responsible for overseeing safety of railway operations and improve safety to promote rail as an efficient mode of transport.

The principal Act needs to be amended so as to be inline with the current developments.

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BACKROUND

Department

of Transport

OBJECTS OF THE BILL .OBJECTS OF THE BILL .

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To amend the National Railway Safety Regulator Act, 2002 so as to amend certain definitions and to insert others;

To extend the ambit of a threat to safety to include behavior;

To empower the Minister to include monorail systems, trams, systems running on pneumatic tyres within the ambit of the Act.

To empower the Regulator to exempt railways;

OBJECTS OF THE BILL OBJECTS OF THE BILL (CONTI…).(CONTI…).

• To clarify that operators remain responsible for railway safety;

• To clarify that the RSR is responsible for the promotion of railway safety;

• To empower the Regulator to enter into informal arrangements with role players;

• To clarify the role of operator associations;• To clarify the role of the Regulator in relation to

the transportation of dangerous goods by rail;

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OBJECTS OF THE BILL OBJECTS OF THE BILL (CONT…).(CONT…).

• To revise the provision regarding the terms and conditions of service of the chief executive officer;

• To require the Regulator’s annual report to be submitted within five months after the financial year end;

• To provide that the board approves the conditions of service of staff members;

• To empower the chief executive officer to delegate his or her powers and duties;

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OBJECTS OF THE BILL OBJECTS OF THE BILL (CONT…).(CONT…).

• To extend the Regulator's funds to include penalties and fees for providing services and other prescribed sources;

• To provide that the Regulator may charge fees for administering safety permits;

• To clarify the types of permits in connection with which standards may be imposed;

• To empower the Minister to make regulations to adopt and accept existing standards as well as to develop new ones;

• To provide that the chief executive officer appoints inspectors;

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OBJECTS OF THE BILL OBJECTS OF THE BILL (CONT…).(CONT…).

• To empower inspectors to audit, inspect and investigate the transportation of dangerous goods prior to their transportation by rail should a railway occurrence happens; To provide that operators investigate railway occurrences and to empower the Regulator to take steps if they fail to do so;

• To empower the board of the Regulator to subpoena witnesses and documents in connection with investigations;

• To enable the Minister to make regulations for the payment of penalties by operators who defaults;

• And to provide for matters connected therewith.7

CLAUSE BY CLAUSE EXPLANATION OF

THE BILL

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CLAUSE ONE (DEFINITIONS)

• The definition of “dangerous goods” is amended to remove specific reference to SABS 0228 to take care of possible future changes to the SABS standards.

• The definition of “network operator” is amended to provide more clarity and broadly for the responsibilities of such operators and to include the authorization and direction of train movements which previously fell under the responsibilities of the “train operator”

• Clause 1 also amend section 1 (7) of the principal Act in order to make it clearer that a threat to safety will also include behavior that can develop into unsafe behavior.

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CLAUSE ONE (DEFINITIONS)CONT…

• Definition of “station” is amended to make it clear that station only refers to places where passengers alter or leave trains and to include model exchange and commercial and retail premises for the purpose of crowd management and security.

• The definition of “train operator” is amended to exclude the responsibility to control movement of rolling stock, which is the responsibility of the network operator.

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APPLICATION OF ACT (SECTION 3)

- Clause 2 amends section 3 of the Act in order to provide that the Minister may also declare a system with track gauge of less than 600mm as a railway for purposes of the Act.

- The amendment also allows for the RSR to exempt a railway from compliance with the act in consultation with the Minister;

- The amendment empowers the Minister to include monorails, trains and fixed rail or track systems running on pneumatic tries.

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Department

of Transport

• Clause 3 amends section 5 by substitution for paragraph (a) and (b) for new paragraphs.• The amendment clarify that operators remain responsible for railway safety and that the function of RSR is to promote rail safety, but not to promote the utilization of rail mode.

OBJECTS OF THE REGULATOR OBJECTS OF THE REGULATOR (SECTION 5)(SECTION 5)

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Department

of Transport CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE (SECTION 6)(SECTION 6)

Clause 4 amends section 6 of the principal Act by substitution of subsection 2 for a new subsection 2.

The amendment requires RSR to enter into appropriate arrangements as well as formal agreements.

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Department

of Transport

Clause 5 aments section 7 of the principal Act by the substitution in subsection 1 for paragraph (b)

The amendment imposes a duty on the Regulator to oversee safety in relation to transportation of dangerous goods by rail, conducting of audit, inspections and investigation.

The amendment provides that a recognized operator organization will collaborate with the RSR in general terms and not act on its behalf in developing standards.

Subsection (2) (n) is deleted because it is a duplication of subsection (2).

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FUNCTIONS OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE REGULATOR (SECTION 7)REGULATOR (SECTION 7)

CEO OF THE REGULATOR CEO OF THE REGULATOR (SECTION 9)(SECTION 9)

• Clause 6 amends section 9 of the Act by providing that the Minister of Finance will no longer play a role in determining the terms and conditions of the CEO.

• The amendment also provides that RSR should submit the annual report to the Minister within 5 months after the end of the financial year rather than three. This is to make the Act to be in line with PFMA.

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Department

of Transport

STAFF TO THE REGULATOR STAFF TO THE REGULATOR (SECTION 10)(SECTION 10)

Clause 7 amends section 10 of the principal Act by empowering the CEO to appoint the staff of the Regulator.

The amendment also provides that the terms and conditions of service of the staff are determined by the Board.

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- Clause 8 amends section 11 of the Act in order to provide that the CEO may delegate her/his functions to RSR staff members. This was omitted from the principal Act

DELEGATION AND DELEGATION AND ASSIGNMENT BY BOARD ASSIGNMENT BY BOARD

(SECTION 11)(SECTION 11)

FUNDS OF THE REGULATOR (SECTION 17)

• Clause 9 amends section 17 of the principal Act by the substitution for subsection 1 for a new subsection (1)

• The amendment provides that the RSR’s fee will include the penalties to be provided for in the new clause 45A and fees to be charged by RSR for providing training and advice related to its functions.

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AMENDMENT OF SECTION 23

• Clause 10 amends section 23 of the Act by empowering RSR to charge fees for processing safety permits applications and also for administering those permits.

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AMEND OF SECTION 24

• Clause 11 amends section 24 in order to make it clear that standard conditions applicable to safety permits do not have to be categorized according to the categories mentioned in section 22(1), but that they may differ according to types of permits as well.

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AMENDMENT OF SECTION 29

• Clause 12 amends section 29 of the Act in order to empower the Minister to make regulations to adopt existing standards and develop new standards.

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AMENDMENT OF SECTION 30

• Clause 13 amends section 30 by empowering the Minister to make regulations to adopt, accept existing standards and develop new standards;

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AMENDMENT OF SECTION 32

• Clause 14 amends section 32 in order to empower the CEO rather than the Minister to appoint railway safety inspectors

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AMENDMENT OF SECTION 33

• Clause 15 amends section 33 of the Act by empowering the railway safety inspectors to investigate matters such as the packaging, marking and classification of dangerous goods prior to their loading onto a train in the event of a railway occurrence.

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AMENDMENT OF SECTION 38

• Clause 16 amends section 38 of the Act in order to provide that operators must conduct investigation regarding railway occurrence.

• The amendment also empowers the Regulator to require operators to conduct investigations into such occurrences where appropriate.

• The amendment also empowers the Board in conducting investigation to summon witnesses to appear before it; produce any document as proof.

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AMENDMENT OF SECTION 40

• Clause 17 amends section 40 of the Act by empowering the RSR to request information from persons for any related activities, rather than only for the purpose of information and monitoring systems

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INSERTION OF SECTION 45A

• Clause 18 amends section 45 by insertion of a new section 45A

• The new section 45A empowers the Minister to make regulations.

• To enable RSR to impose penalties where operators fail to comply with standards or requirements imposed under the Act or with permit conditions.

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CONSULTATION

• The members of the public were consulted by publishing the Bill in the Government Gazette No 30756 of 2008

• The Bill was also directly forwarded to the following institution for comment

(a) Ingwe Collieries;

(b) City of Tshwane;

(c) Moqhaka Municipality – Kroosntad;

(d) Spoornet;

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CONSULTATION (CONT…).

(e) Metro Rail/SARCC;(f) Chairman of Heritage Railway

Association;(g) South African Port Operations Head

Office;(h) African Rail & Traction;(i) Rovos Rail;(j) Sandstone Heritage Trust; and(k) Umngeni Steam Railway.• Comments were received from other

stakeholders and were where necessary incorporated in the Bill. 29

REQUEST

• We request the Portfolio Committee to approve the Railway Safety Regulator Amendment Bill, 2008

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THANK YOU

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