Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has primary regulatory responsibility for rail safety in New Zealand. Our role is to provide independent assurance to stakeholders and the public of the effective management of rail safety risks by rail participants.
The work we do can be broken into the following categories:
Engaging and setting expectations
- Working with rail and road stakeholders to achieve a safer rail system for passengers, workers and the community.
- Engaging with and educating rail participants on their regulatory duties.
- Guiding the adoption of standards.
- Setting rules for infrastructure, vehicles and practices.
Licensing
- Managing entry and compliance with requirements for those required to hold a rail licence (and exit where necessary).
- Setting conditions on licence holders to manage certain safety risks.
- Approving and driving the continuous improvement of the ‘Safety Cases’ required by licence holders.
Monitoring
- Using intelligence to identify and target critical safety risks to the system.
- Assessing performance and investigating accidents to identify non-compliance, unsafe practices and competency gaps.
- Providing public data and reporting on the activities and safety of the rail system
Compliance
- Intervening directly with compliance tools to improve performance or control significant risks.
- Detaining or restricting or prohibiting the use of vehicles or infrastructure to control significant risks.
- Prosecuting breaches of the Railways Act.
- Supporting inquiries by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) and Coroner and ensuring recommendations from these are implemented.
Revenue collection
- Collecting fees and charges from participants for holding a licence or receiving regulatory services.
Guidance and information on the rail safety regulatory operating model, risk management approach, rail safety monitoring and compliance tools are available below.
Rail safety regulatory operating model
The NZ Transport Agency has primary regulatory responsibility for rail safety in New Zealand. The Rail Safety team has a critical regulatory role in providing independent assurance to stakeholders and the public, of the effective management of rail safety risks by rail participants.
Assessment types
Ordinary and special safety assessments are the Transport Agency’s primary way of assuring rail participants are operating safely and complying with their rail safety licences.
Compliance
Compliance means meeting or exceeding the requirements of the regulatory framework that is designed to ensure high levels of safety on the rail transport system. Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency carries out its regulatory activities in a manner which is responsive, transparent, accountable, proportionate and consistent.
Safety investigations
A function of the rail safety regulator is to identify the safety issues that have caused a specific incident or series of incidents to occur. Find out more about the investigation process.
Rail safety statistics
Data on rail accident deaths and serious injuries since 2009; and level crossing events, vehicle collisions, SPAD As (Signals Passed at Danger), and derailments since 2012. These statistics will be updated on a regular basis, with raw data available for download.
