RISSB Connect Edition 58, April 2023

Edition 58 April 2024 

INSIDE THIS EDITION

+ CEO message
+ RISSB Rail Safety Awards 2024 are due to be hotly contested
+ Rail R U OK? Day
+ Managing Occupational Violence and Anti-Social Behaviour in Rail
+ Member Spotlight

CEO MESSAGE

I was fortunate last week to attend the annual ARA Freight Rail Conference in Sydney. Despite the many challenges facing Australia’s rail freight sector, there remains significant enthusiasm and confidence.

Having only just recovered from an extended outage on the east-west line, network resilience was a common theme which came up during the sessions. Conversely, discussions on the opportunity for the rail freight sector to be a natural decarbonisation solution – through both modal shift from road to rail and through fossil fuel replacement opportunities – were common through many of the presentations.

Inland Rail’s continued progress featured prominently, as did open access intermodal terminal opportunities being presented by National Intermodal (Beveridge, Moorebank & Ebenezer) and The Intermodal Terminal Company (Somerton). And barriers to innovation for above-rail operators continue to hinder productivity, with the streamlining of rollingstock certification being but one opportunity for RISSB and the NTC to take the lead on. Real harmonisation of specification requirements, testing requirements, and opportunities for mutual recognition between network owners will provide significant improvements in productivity, but more importantly will deliver greater certainty to invest in newer technology rollingstock. This will be a difficult but very valuable productivity reform for the industry.

Damien White
RISSB CEO

RISSB Rail Safety Awards 2024 are due to be hotly contested

The deadline for nominations for the RISSB Rail Safety Awards 2024 has now closed. Over 50 nominations have been received across all five categories and judging is now underway. 

The members of the judging panel include some familiar faces who are well known and respected across the rail industry including:

The RISSB Rail Safety Awards identify individuals and organisations with a strong commitment to safety and have demonstrated diversity, inclusion, excellence and innovation all for the betterment of rail. So it is exciting to see such a big response from industry.

Finalists are due to be informed on Tuesday 23 April 2024, so look out if you have submitted a nomination. Winners will be announced on Tuesday 30 April 2024 at the Rail Safety Conference awards dinner.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to provide a nomination and good luck.

General News

Training and events

Managing Occupational Violence and Anti-Social Behaviour in Rail

Join us next week for a RISSB MasterClass Webinar, where we will be joined by Joe Saunders, the Group General Manager - Training & Consulting at Risk 2 Solution Group.

In this webinar, Joe will introduce the holistic workplace violence prevention model – the world’s first ever ISO 31000-aligned model for the management of occupational violence and aggression. Joe will provide practical guidance on the application of the model for all organisations, regardless of size, industry or risk.

Interested? The webinar is being held on Tuesday 23 April at 12:00pm (AEDT). Make sure to register using the button below. We look forward to seeing you there!

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT ON
Metro Trains Sydney Pty Ltd

Metro Trains Sydney (MTS) is the operator and maintainer of the Metro North West Line, Australia’s only fully accessible, driverless train service.

In September 2014, the Northwest Rapid Transit consortium, of which MTS is the Operations and Maintenance contractor, was awarded the Operations, Trains and Systems Public Private Partnership contract for the Metro North West Line. In 2019, the NSW Government, through Sydney Metro Authority, extended the PPP contract to include the operation and maintenance of the combined Metro North West Line and Sydney Metro City & Southwest. MTS currently manage 36km of track and 13 stations with an additional seven stations to open in the city in 2024, followed by an expanded network in the southwest in 2025. MTS is a joint venture of MTR Corporation, Australia’s John Holland group and UGL Rail.

Metro Trains Sydney has been a participating member of RISSB since 2021.

They recently announced that work on Sydney’s Martin Place Metro Station has been powering ahead and soon passengers will have access to a fully integrated transport destination right in the heart of Sydney CBD. The station is now 95 per cent complete, almost ready for metro services to start this year beyond Chatswood, through the Sydney CBD and out to Sydenham. 

For more information click here.