Engineering, Freight Rail, Passenger Rail, Safety, Standards & Regulation

Queensland to join ONRSR

SEQ

The CEO of the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) says Queensland will soon become part of the national safety regulation system.

Queensland will be the final state to join the ONRSR, after Western Australia, which came into the fold on November 2, 2015.

“Queensland have announced they are joining ONRSR,” the regulator’s CEO, Sue McCarrey, told AusRAIL on Thursday.

“I have received a letter just earlier this week from the deputy premier and minister for transport in Queensland [Jackie Trad], saying she would like us to start that process, of integrating Queensland into the national system.

“So within 18 months, we should see a fully national rail safety regulator, right across Australia.”

Queensland is the final participant in the National Rail Safety Regulation and Investigation Scheme.

On November 2, Western Australia joined six other states and territories as participants in the scheme.

WA joined thanks to the passage of enabling legislation through WA Parliament last month – legislation similar to that which Queensland will have to pass if it is to finalise its participation in the national plan.

“It was great to finally have Western Australia as a part of the national safety regulator,” McCarrey said on Thursday.

When WA was added to the scheme, Australasian Railway Association chief executive Danny Broad said the move was a critical one.

“A uniform system reduces the burden of regulatory convolution, and provides a seamless, more efficient approach to rail safety and investigation as backed by national law,” Broad said.