Recommendation Date
Recipient Name
MoT
Text
It was recommended to the Secretary for Transport that he address the status of the National Rail System Standard and the relationship between these standards and rail participants' safety cases and underlying safety systems is not clear. For example, it is not clear whether KiwiRail's safety case and its underpinning safety system can be required to comply with the NRSS as a minimum, or whether the NRSS is subservient to KiwiRail's safety system. An approved (by the regulator) change to KiwiRail's safety system could then by default become an approved change to the NRSS. If the latter, then it is also unclear what the relationship between the NRSS and other rail participants' safety cases and underpinning safety systems would be.
Reply Text
As the National Rail System Standards are industry standards, which are developed by the NRSS Committee, and approved for inclusion in a rail operator's safety case by the regulator, the Ministry is well placed to carry out an independent review. In carrying out this review, the Ministry will particularly focus on the matters raised in recommendations 033/10 and 034/10.
Related Investigation(s)