Rail safety regulatory operating model

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has primary regulatory responsibility for rail safety in New Zealand. The Rail Safety Regulator has a critical regulatory role in assuring stakeholders and the public that the country's rail networks are being managed safely.

The safe operation of rail transport services across New Zealand is achieved through regulation of the rail industry in accordance with the Railways Act 2005(external link) (referred to as the Act). This mostly involves issuing licences and undertaking a range of compliance activities to assess the safety approach and performance of rail licence holders.

The purpose of the Rail Safety regulatory operating model is to:

• identify the regulatory principles and approach the Transport Agency has adopted to regulate safety in the rail transport industry
• show how the compliance and enforcement measures set out in this model will be applied to rail participants
• ensure a consistent approach to compliance and enforcement measures nationally
• provide an appropriate level of transparency to regulated parties (primarily licence holders) around the application of compliance and enforcement measures.

Download the Rail safety regulatory operating model [PDF, 2.2 MB]