The purpose of Operational Concept for the Australian Railway Network (operational concept) is to provide a methodology for testing whether a proposal for rules development and/or change is within the scope of National Rules and other National Operations Publications.

It achieves this by providing a link between the seven Fundamental Operating Principles (principles), as listed in Section 1.8 of this document, and:
a) the Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board (RISSB) Standards;
b) the Rail Transport Operators (RTOs) operating rules;
c) the RTO’s safety management systems processes requirements.