When to notify

All notifiable accidents and incidents associated with the operation of a rail vehicle, the use of the railway infrastructure or the use of railways premises require a Rail accident/incident notification form to be submitted to Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency within three working days unless separate reporting arrangements have been agreed with Waka Kotahi.

Rail accident/incident notification form

Prior to that, for all serious accidents and significant incidents, immediate phone notification (as soon as practicable) is required. Details of these types of incidents are provided in the table below.

Immediate notification requirements

The table below provides details about the incidents that require you to immediately notify Waka Kotahi on 0508 7245 555 (after emergency services have been called).

Note: Any incident likely to generate immediate or intense public interest or concern should also be notified immediately.

Category	Description(s)
Accident	Whenever there is a death or serious injury Any ongoing emergency situation where there is a risk of death or serious injury Whenever there is significant property damage (ie >$200,000)
Collision	Any collision involving a rail vehicle with passengers on board that placed people at risk of death or serious harm Any collision involving freight services on the NRS Any collision between a rail vehicle and a road vehicle
Dangerous goods	All incidents involving the release of dangerous goods
Derailment	Derailments involving any rail vehicle with passengers on board Derailments involving freight services on the NRS
Fire and fumes	Any fire not caused by a dynamic brake grid Any fire that immobilises a locomotive Any fire, smoke or fume event on a passenger service
Runaway rail vehicle	Partings involving any rail vehicle with passengers on board Partings involving freight services on the NRS
Safe working rule or procedure breach	Any incident where track workers, train control or locomotive engineers failed to adhere to track safety rules and placed track workers at risk of serious injury or death Where a train or terminal controller has issued a movement order that put a rail vehicle in conflict with another rail vehicle’s authorised route
SPAD A	When a rail vehicle has entered a work site without permission When a passenger service has had a SPAD A1 When a rail vehicle has had a SPAD A1 and stopped within 500m of a conflicting rail vehicle on the mainline

Immediate notifications

KiwiRail are responsible for making the immediate notification for accidents and incidents on the controlled network that fall under the requirements listed above.

Rail licence holders are responsible for making the immediate notification within operator controlled territory.

Follow-up written notifications

After an immediate notification has been made, all follow-up notifications are submitted by the rail licence holder concerned (within three working days).

Accident and incident notification forms

For notifications without an immediate requirement, KiwiRail are responsible for notifying the following if they occur on the controlled network:

Track and civil infrastructure irregularities
Level crossing occurrences
SPAD Bs
Signalling and other movement authority systems irregularities.

All other incidents, either on the controlled network or within operator controlled territory, are to be notified by the licence holder concerned.

Online services

Immediate notification requirements

Immediate notifications

Follow-up written notifications

Accident and incident notification forms