launch of the Railway Safety Standards Johannesburg
2 April 2009
Programme director
MEC for Transport
Chairperson and members of the Railway Safety Standards (RSR) Board
Director-General, Ms Mpumi Mpofu
CEO of the Railway Safety Standards, Mr Mosenngwa Mofi
CEOs of the Railway Operators
CEO of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), Mr Martin Kuscus
CEO of Transnet Freight Rail, Mr Siyabonga Gama
The Head of the Railway Police
Southern African Railway Association Board members
Representatives of Labour
Representations of Commuter Organisations
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Programme Director,
Transporting people and goods safely on our railways is a priority of
government. Huge numbers of commuters use railway transport as their preferred
mode of transport on a daily basis. Likewise millions of tons of goods that oil
the wheels of our economy are hauled over our rail systems every year. And thus
is our railway system kept alive and vibrant. It was therefore in keeping with
the spirit and letter of our Constitution and in line with government's
commitment to keep the railways safe and secure, that the Railway
Safety Regulator was established with the promulgation of the National
Railway Safety Regulator Act in 2002.
This was confirmation of the government's commitment to the safety and
security of our transport system. Transport is indeed "the heartbeat of South
Africa's economic growth and social development", and therefore safety in all
modes of transport is a key priority for government. It is in this regard that
we have established institutions that regulate safety in all modes of
transport, for example, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) in
maritime transport, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in aviation, the Road
Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) in road traffic and the Railway Safety
Regulator (RSR) in rail transport. These institutions serve to advance our
strategic objective of ensuring safety and security of our transport system
which in turn, serve to enhance the productive capacity of the economy.
Today marks another milestone in our unwavering commitment to improving
safety in our transport system. Safety is the cornerstone of operational
efficiency in the railway industry and we must continue to put in place
building blocks that will ensure that our interventions in this regards are not
only sustainable, but deliver tangible results and directly lead to reduction
of transport costs. Railway safety standards are an important driver in
ensuring that safety performance in our railways is sustainable.
Distinguished guests, I wish to briefly reflect on the mandate of the RSR in
order to provide meaning to today's event. Broadly, the mandate of the RSR is
as follows to:
* oversee safety in railway transport, while operators remain responsible
for managing safety of their operations
* develop an appropriate regulatory framework through the development of
regulations and standards for safe railway operations
* monitor and ensure safety compliance through the conducting of audits,
inspections, safety assessments and occurrence investigations
* collect and disseminate information relating to safe railway operations
* promote the harmonisation of the railway safety regime of South
Africa with Southern African Development Community (SADC) railway
operations
* promote improved safety performance in order to promote the use of rail.
In pursuance of this mandate, the RSR has, in collaboration with the railway
industry and the SABS developed a series of standards to ensure that a common
and consistent approach to railway safety in areas such as safety management,
technical and operational requirements as well as human factors management. A
key to the successful regeneration of the railway system in South Africa, and
indeed the sub-region, is the interoperability of the railways. This implies
consistent standards and common usage of technology where railway
infrastructure is used by more than one operator. To this end, the RSR and the
railway industry have and continue to collaborate in developing the overarching
broad technical and operating standards.
It is therefore my pleasure to launch the series of the large number of
railway safety standards that have been published as part of the Regulator's
mandate. The need for harmonisation of safety standards within SADC region is
of strategic importance. The RSR is actively facilitating efforts to adopt and
align the current railway safety standards by regional railway operators
through the Southern African Railway Association.
In addition, I am pleased that the Southern African Railway Association
Board has adopted the safety management system as a framework to guide safety
management practices by operators' in the region. I wish to commend SARA and
the RSR for the sterling work in this regard. With respect to the Gautrain
Project, the RSR is working closely with the Bombela Concession Company
regarding the proposed standards for the Gautrain Rapid Rail project.
The ongoing engagements between the RSR and Bombela are aimed at ensuring
that safety requirements are integrated into the total life-cycle management of
the project, from design, construction, testing and commissioning of the
project. The RSR has, amongst others, conducted Gautrain reviews and
assessments such as safety in railway tunnels, standards for interoperability,
signalling, safety system plan and the rolling stock technical description. All
these efforts are aimed at ensuring the rapid rail project operates safely once
commissioned.
As the RSR strengthens its safety regulatory oversight role, the assessment
of the overall safety performance of the railway industry is crucial in
identifying areas requiring urgent intervention as well as assessing the impact
of the work of the RSR. In this regard, the State of Railway Safety reports
have provided the RSR, my department and the railway industry at large with the
necessary information to assess safety performance in railways. These reports
serve to provide a broad overview of the profile of the railway sector and the
general performance by railway operators in different occurrence categories
such as collisions and derailments. It furthermore includes the occurrence
costs for major operators. These reports therefore play a strategic role in
highlighting high risk areas that require focused attention by both operators
and the RSR.
Whilst the RSR has reported notable improvement in some reportable railway
occurrence categories, urgent interventions are however required to improve
safety in the critical occurrence categories such as derailments, collisions,
level crossings and security related incidences such as vandalism and theft of
operational assets. It has been established that one of the major contributory
factors in accidents has been human error. I am encouraged to note that the
RSR, together with the industry, is addressing this matter through the
development of Human Factors Management standards that focus particularly on
safety critical positions such as train drivers and train control officers.
We are paying particular attention to the safety concerns raised by the RSR
and I wish to implore operators to ensure that they put in place corrective
measures in order to comply with directives issued by the RSR to improve
safety. In this regard, I wish to point out that Parliament has recently passed
the Amendment of the National Railway Safety Regulator Act (2002) in order to,
amongst other factors, strengthen its enforcement capacity through the
introduction of fines in the event of non-compliance by operators, as well as
address occupational health and safety issues that have a direct impact on
operational safety. I hope that organised labour will play a critical role in
alerting the RSR on matters relate to occupational health and safety that
impact on safe railway operations.
The ability of the RSR and Railway operators to respond to the challenges
highlighted in the state of safety reports is of utmost importance. In this
regard, all safety interventions made by the industry should, as a minimum, be
directed at addressing findings of the RSR. I am however pleased to note great
efforts aimed at improving safety in our railways by major operators such as
Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa
(PRASA) following the implementation of Safety Management Systems and major
investments in rail infrastructure and rolling stock.
As we prepare ourselves to host the largest sporting spectacular in world,
the 2010 FIFA World Cup and beyond, we are determined to ensure that our rail
transport system operates in an efficient and safe manner. The collective
activities of the RSR and the railway operators must be calculated to achieve
this objective. The RSR is now geared to conduct specific audits and
inspections on dedicated passenger routes for 2010 FIFA World Cup as part of
its targeted passenger rail specific audits. These audits will focus mainly on
infrastructure integrity on dedicated routes.
Over the past years, the RSR has placed a lot of emphasis in auditing the
operator's safety management systems, as these provide a sound basis for
effective management of safety in the railway environment. I am pleased to note
that the RSR is also intensifying targeted technical audits focusing on
infrastructure integrity, communication infrastructure, interface management
and rolling stock maintenance. This will build on the progress made by the
RSR
Inspectorate which has, as at end December 2008, conducted a total of:
* 475 SMS audits at operational sites
* 24 ad hoc inspections
* 42 occurrence investigation
* 50 Design Reviews and Safety Assessment of New Works including the Gautrain
Project.
As a result of the above activities the RSR has issued the following
directives:
* Eight prohibition directives when immediate threat to railway safety was
evident
* 42 non-compliance notices when elements of a safety management system were
not implemented and
* 57 improvement directives when there is possible threat to safety, for
example physical infrastructure defects.
As I have already indicated, it is imperative that operators comply with
directives issued by the RSR in order to improve safety. A strategic decision
by government to re-introduce the South African Police Service (SAPS) Railway
police has seen over 2143 police officers deployed in the railway environment,
which has contributed to crime in our trains being reduced by 38%. At the same
time the level of prosecution and arrests had been increased, successful
recoveries to the tune of almost R20 million were achieved during the last
financial year.
My department provides part funding for the railway policing services and
has to date made provisions for the purchase of 20 specialised policing coaches
which are currently under construction. Through these interventions, we aim to
make commuter travel a pleasurable and safe one.
I also take this opportunity to thank the Minister of Safety and Security
for his ongoing support and commitment to improve security as well as the Head
of the Railway Police and those men and women in uniform for their dedication
in making the railway environment safer. This dedication does not go
unnoticed.
It is therefore my pleasure to launch this series of the railway safety
standards that have been published as part of the Regulator's mandate. We hope
that these standards will serve to realise the following objectives:
* An improvement in safety of operations and services
* The creation of an opportunity for reliability improvements
* A reduction in operating and maintenance costs
* The standardisation of rail components and processes
May I take this opportunity to congratulate the Railway Safety Regulator,
Metrorail/PRASA, Transnet Freight Rail, Transnet Freight Rail Engineering,
Bombela, the RailRoad Association, the South African Bureau of Standards and
other members of the working groups for their support and contribution in
developing these standards.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Transport
2 April 2009
Source: SAPA
