Australian governments want to get more freight on rail to reduce road congestion, improve safety and help the country reach emissions targets.
To support this, the National Transport Commission (NTC) is working with industry and governments through the National Rail Action Plan (NRAP) to make it easier to get new, more innovative trains on track.
The two-year program to simplify and streamline rolling stock approval processes includes three projects:
- Creating guidance on rolling stock safety assurance
- Piloting a single national application process
- Identifying ways to harmonise rolling stock testing requirements and locations.
The program has attracted widespread interest from across the rail sector with 170 people from rail infrastructure managers (RIMs), operators, contractors and governments attending a recent NTC webinar for an overview of the projects.
NTC CEO Michael Hopkins led the event, noting the strong turnout and engagement reflected broad industry consensus that national action is needed to harmonise the many different approval processes currently in place.
At the moment, RIMs require operators to put new trains through various certification, registration and network approvals specifically for their network.
The procedure must be completed for every network the train travels over. This presents a challenge for freight operators as well as passenger trains which operate across multiple networks. Having different processes is costly and a major deterrent to investment in new and innovative trains.
The NTC is partnering with the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) to assess the current state of, and commonalities and differences in, existing safety assurance processes.
A discussion paper highlighting ideas for improvement will be released to stakeholders for feedback in April. This will be used to inform written guidance on best practice safety assurance.
It will also provide important input to develop and implement a pilot program for a single national application process (Project 2) scheduled to begin in mid-2025.
The NTC is seeking expressions of interest from RIMs to be involved in the pilot, and will provide support for establishing, running and evaluating the trial which is scheduled to start in 2026.
Initial engagement for Project 3, harmonising rolling stock testing requirements and locations, will begin mid-year and be completed in late 2026.
Australia’s transport ministers recognise the importance of streamlining rolling stock approval processes and have identified it as one of three areas of focus for new mandatory standards.
“With the support of industry and ministers, we’ve got the best possible environment to push change,” Hopkins said.
To get involved in the NTC’s program to streamline the rolling stock approvals process contact the team at rollingstock@ntc.gov.au.
To find out more about the NTC’s work visit our website.
