The Whistle Board Newsletter – May 2017

This Edition:

• Message from the CEO
• Safety Roadshow Workshops
• Cyber Safety
• Call for Development Group Members

Message from the CEO

As we come to the end of May, 2017 is proving to be an exceptionally busy year for RISSB.

I would like to give one final thank you to all who participated in the revamped Priority Planning Forum (PPF). In total, we had almost three times as many submissions as in previous years, which should result in an overall ranking that better reflects the needs and wants of the rail industry. The final results will be released soon and we will notify you accordingly.

The 2017 Budget that was recently delivered by Treasurer Scott Morrison contained a number of initiatives regarding the rail industry. While this related to infrastructure initiatives, such emphasis on rail will require the industry to stay at the cutting edge of safety standards over the coming years.

Finally, you will have noticed that RISSB recently put a call out for Development Group Members regarding the development of a Cyber Security Standard.  RISSB understands the importance of ensuring that the rail industry is protected against this emerging threat (as shown in the article below), and is working closely with industry and government to ensure a harmonised approach to the issue.

Safety Roadshow

We have commenced the national roadshow, touring with ARA and ONRSR to promote railway safety and explain our roles within the industry. 

We were in Perth and Sydney last week and are reaching Melbourne and Sydney again this week.   The last roadshow will be in Brisbane on June The sessions held so far have been enormously successful with valuable discussions on ‘what is co-regulation’, industry competencies, industry data/information, RISSB’s risk model (ARRM), the law, drugs and alcohol and many other matters.

The roadshows are proving to be a fantastic opportunity for the railway to engage with it’s cross-industry bodies, who represent and campaign for them. As well as the railway learning who we are, we’re learning the railway’s important issues where we can add value in the future.

Cyber Security 

Earlier in the month Deutsche Bahn – Germany’s largest rail operator of metro trains – was the target of a cyber attack. Of the roughly 5.5 million passengers that access Deutsche Bahn each day, in excess of 3 million were impacted.

While there were no fatalities, the network was thrown into chaos and greatly inconvenienced many German train riders. This demonstrates why the rail industry in Australia needs to be pro-active in safeguarding the industry when it comes to cyber security. 

RISSB AND INDUSTRY WORKING TOGETHER IN TWO IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS

National Rules:

It has been a couple of busy months with the national rules program, with the completion of the state based forums on the 21 April, leading to the National Rules Workshop on the 10th May in Melbourne.

With 18 organisations involved in this initial stage of the program to develop the National Fundamental Operating Principles, this indicates industry is supportive of the national approach and are prepared to work together with RISSB to achieve this goal.

RISSB will be moving into phase two of this program early in July 2017 commencing the development of the rules in association with an in-depth analysis of the current Australian Network Rules and Procedures (ANRP).

Over the next couple of months RISSB will be calling for senior leaders from within the industry to form a National Rules Advisory Group and technical experts to form Development Groups to commence the work on the national rules.  We will keep industry updated on the progress over the coming 12 months.

Rail Cyber Security:

The call for development group members closed on the 26 May 2017, with a great response from industry resulting in over 25 individuals nominated to be involved in the development of AS7770 Rail Cyber Security Standard.

This standard will provide industry with a high-level requirement and aims to provide a maturity model approach to allow industry to continue to improve in this area. In the future and to further support this standard the development of guidelines aimed at specific areas of the rail industry will be developed.

Development of this industry critical standard will begin on 5th June 2017 and expected to be completed late 2018.