|
INSIDE
THIS EDITION+ CEO Message
+ Winners announced for the Horizons Interoperability Strategy Competition
+ Come and support Rail Safety Week at next week's RISSB MasterClass webinars
+ Future Rail Skills Forum tackles workforce shortage in Australia’s rail industry
+ RISSB Horizon 5 Program participants visit to the UTS Robotics Institute
+ Progress on AS 7531 Rolling Stock Lighting and Visibility
CEO Message Next week is Rail Safety Week, and whilst there’s a number of safety issues within the rail industry deserving attention, the issue of level crossing risks with motor vehicles, pedestrians and trespassers continues to warrant the greatest attention. At the TrackSAFE Foundation website there are a number of resources and references to activities being scheduled throughout the week. We’re all aware of the impact that various
distractions have on road users, and our rail network is no different, hence the focus of the TrackSAFE campaign during Rail Safety Week being “Expect the Unexpected – Watch out for Trains”. And please find elsewhere in this edition of RISSB Connect activities that RISSB will be undertaking next week. Damien White
RISSB CEO
Winners announced for the Horizons Interoperability Strategy CompetitionIn exciting news, last week the Horizons 5 Program team ‘Eurostar’ were announced as the winners of the Interoperability Strategy Competition. The competition involved teams identifying five key challenges currently facing the Australian rail industry, and providing staged solutions to implement and deliver
an interoperable future in the industry. The work produced by the teams for this competition, and over the entire Horizon 5 Program, will contribute greatly to RISSB and ultimately the rail industry as a whole, to help improve its safety standards and performance. A big congratulations to the winners, we enjoyed watching you grow your knowledge and develop your skills, and we look forward to seeing what you do in the future! Below the team is shown accepting their award from the CEO of RISSB, Damien White. (from left to right) - Amelia Barnes, Station Design Coordinator, Suburban
Rail Loop Authority
- Michael McGhie, Manager Safety Strategy, QR
- Tomos Luker, Design Engineer Rail, Cold Forged Products
- Ken Liu, Senior Manager, Workforce Modelling, Sydney Trains
- Damien White – CEO RISSB
Absent: Karen Sheiles, Crewing Coordinator, One Rail Australia and Suresh Sangarapillai, Design Engineer, Downer
RISSB Horizon 5 Program participants visit to the UTS Robotics InstituteLast week was the final day of the RISSB Horizons 5 Program. The day featured a tour of the UTS Robotics Institute's Infrastructure Lab with 20 of the program participants. The Institute Director, Sarath Kodagoda, discussed the industrial applications of bioinspired robots and the cleverly designed shape-changing robots that are used for various terrains and tight spaces. Thank you to UTS Robotics Institute's mechatronic engineer, Nathan Rees, and PhD Student, Sangmim Song for explaining the technical aspects of some of our robots. Another big thank you to Zoe Giacomini and Robyn Barden for coordinating the visit.
Come and support Rail Safety Week at next week's RISSB MasterClass webinarsNext week is Rail Safety Week, and in recognition of that, RISSB will be holding two MasterClass Webinars to raise awareness of the importance of rail safety. On Tuesday 8 August 12PM (AEST) we will be hearing from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) about the internal
changes to the ATSB as a result of strategic planning activities, and their focus on rail investigations. Then on Friday 11 August 12PM (AEST) we will be hearing from Evan Lutey, the Chair of the National Australian Level Crossing Assessment Model (ALCAM) Committee about ALCAM's history, as well as the information collected as part of an ALCAM assessment, the outputs from the model and the future developments of the LXM system. Please register for the webinars using the buttons below. We look forward to
seeing you there!
Future Rail Skills Forum tackles workforce shortage in Australia’s rail industryLast week, our CEO Damien White, attend the Future Rail Skills Forum – organised by the National Transport Commission (NTC) and the Australasian Railway Association (ARA). There’s a lot of attention in the rail space to drive improvements in interoperability, safety and productivity. A fundamental enabler and beneficiary of improved interoperability is the portability of key industry skills. Also, like most industries, rail is seeing a
growing demand for greater digitisation, hence driving a greater demand for digital skills. Key barriers to streamlining skills development in the rail industry include varying State-based competency development arrangements as well as the various individual rail networks’ rules requirements. These barriers, combined with the growing need for digitisation and the strong pipeline of projects driving labor demand means there is an urgency to resolve these issues. We think with the increased focus and attention by governments and industry on the subject of interoperability is bringing with it some increased enthusiasm, momentum and license to assist in progressing what have been long-standing impediments to progress in the
skills space.
Progress on AS 7531 Rolling Stock Lighting and VisibilityInterest in the ongoing update of AS 7531 Rolling Stock Lighting and Visibility continues to echo in discussions throughout the industry as we continually seek to improve safety at level crossings across Australia. When RISSB was informed of the impending release of the Monash Institute of Railway Technology/ONRSR report into rolling stock visibility in February this year, we
paused the standard development process to ensure that any recommendations were included for consideration. We invited the authors of the report to join the development group and continue to provide expertise and input into visibility design factors as part of the ongoing review process. The development group will hold their final meeting this month prior to releasing a draft for a second round of public consultation. The draft will be available for an additional 4 weeks for industry and members of the public to review and comment on the revised requirements for lighting and visibility on rolling stock. Make sure to watch this space for the public consultation announcement over the coming weeks.
RISSB – Industry’s Partner in Co-Regulation
|
