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Here are some resources that provide more information on rail in New Zealand. 

There is rail safety guidance, forms and publications available along with further research and safety statistics.

You will find the rail licence application and rail incident and accident notification form.

Further forms are available on this page in order to change, vary or replace your safety case as required.

National Rail Industry Advisory Forum (NRIAF) Industry Guidance

Practical guidance for conducting health and safety assessments toward meeting SFAIRP obligations in the Railways Act

Title Description
Practical guidance for conducting health and safety assessments toward meeting so far as is reasonably practicable (SFAIRP) obligations in the Railways Act [PDF, 300 KB]

NOTE – This is Industry Guidance. It is hosted on the NZTA website on behalf of NRIAF. This guidance is not a mandatory compliance document. This guidance provides industry with a possible means of conducting health and safety assessments in support of demonstrating the so far as is reasonably practicable (SFAIRP) requirement outlined the Railways Act 2005. This is intended to improve safety while promoting greater consistency in the application of health and safety risk management.

An overview of this process can be found by viewing this YouTube (published with approval from City Rail Link):
So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable - Safety risk acceptance video (external link)

Supporting data to Practical Guide to SFAIRP (February 2023):

  1. Endorsement cover letter [PDF, 72 KB]
  2. Document review record [PDF, 566 KB]
Cover letter to NRIAF Chairperson seeking formal endorsement. The document review record contains all suggested inclusions and discussion. These documents should be consulted when considering future reviews of the SFAIRP Industry Guidance document.

Common principles for assessing and managing the risks to health and safety within New Zealand’s railway sector

Title Description
Common principles for assessing and managing the risks to health and safety within New Zealand’s railway sector [PDF, 295 KB]

This is Industry Guidance. It is hosted on the NZTA website on behalf of NRIAF. This guidance is not a mandatory compliance document.

The objective of this framework is to establish principles for assessing and managing safety risks within New Zealand's railway sector. This framework aims to ensure the protection of railway workers, passengers, the public, and support demonstration of the requirements and obligations outlined in the Railways Act, the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA), and other railway related legislation.

Supporting data to Practical Guide to SFAIRP (August 2024):

  1. Endorsement cover letter [PDF, 103 KB]
  2. Document review record [PDF, 346 KB]
Cover letter to NRIAF Chairperson seeking formal endorsement. The document review record contains all suggested inclusions and discussion. These documents should be consulted when considering future reviews of the SFAIRP Industry Guidance document.

Forms

Title Description
Rail licence application form

Download this form to apply for rail licences, for example a rail operator, access provider or rail participant, required by regulations to hold a licence.

NZ Transport Agency rail incident/accident report form

Use this online web form to report rail incidents.

Guidance on what to notify

Change notification form

Download this form to notify us of a change your organisation is planning that involves a risk to safety, when the management of all safety risks involved with its implementation are already covered in your approved safety case.

Application for a safety case variation form

Download this form to request a variation to your organisation’s approved safety case, with required application documents attached.

Application for a safety case replacement form

Download this form to request replacing your organisation’s approved safety case with a new one, with required application documents attached.

Research

We publish the results of research we’ve commissioned in the Resources section of our website.

Recent examples include:

Research project Date published

Research Report 632 Framework for review and prioritisation of rail safety risks in New Zealand

December 2017

Research Report 583 International benchmarking of rail safety indicators(external link)

March 2016
Research Report 595 Best practice international solutions for mitigating human factor causes of signal passed at danger(external link) August 2016

Publications

Publication highlighting rail safety regulation, featuring contributions from the NZ Transport Agency Rail Safety Regulator, licence holders and stakeholders.

Signal is now published several times a year in an e-newsletter format.

Signal – Rail Safety Regulation update

Statistics

New Zealand rail safety statistics covering rail accident deaths and serious injuries, vehicle collisions, level crossing events, SPADs (Signals Passed at Danger), derailments, and contextual indicators. Updated six-monthly.

Rail safety statistics

Railway associations

 

Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence