Date: 02/06/2010
Source: The Department of Transport
Title: SA: Cronin: Speech by the Deputy Minister of Transport, at the Gautrain permit handover, Johannesburg

Programme Director
Deputy Minister of Transport, Mr Jeremy Cronin.
The Gauteng MEC for Transport and Public Works, MEC Bheki Nkosi

The Chairperson of the RSR, Mr Charles Ntuli

Board Members of the Railway Safety Regulator

The CEO of Gautrain Management Agency

The CEOs of Bombela Concession Company, Bombela Turnkey

Contractor and Bombela Operating Company.

The CEOs of the Transport Agencies

Members of the media

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

Programme Director: The purpose of my address is to provide an overview of the significance of issuing a safety permit to Bombela Operating Company and why this is important in the RSR's quest to promote safe operations in the railway environment.

But before I share some thoughts on the importance of the safety permit, I thought I should provide a brief overview of the Gautrain activities which have now reached a point of being granted permission to operate. Bombela Operating Company entered into an operating contract with the Bombela Concession Company on January 2007, wherein an agreement was reached that the Bombela Operating Company shall perform the operations and maintenance of the Gautrain once design, construction, testing and commissioning have been completed. The Gautrain is planned to start operation in 2 phases called Operation Commencement Dates 1 and 2 (OCD 1 and OCD 2). The application by Bombela was in relation to OCD1 which is the East-West Commuter and Airport services from Sandton Station to OR Tambo International Airport Station (including the Malboro and Rhodesfield Stations). Today's occasion is to mark the issuing of the Safety Permit by the RSR to Bombela for the operation of OCD 1 of the Gautrain operations.

What does it mean to issue a Safety Permit? Section 22 of the National Railway Safety Regulator Act, 2002 (as amended) requires all railway operators to be in possession of an applicable safety permit. A Safety Permit is therefore issued to legalise railway operations of any railway operator. No operator may therefore undertake a railway operation in South Africa without a Safety Permit issued by the RSR.

The RSR's jurisdiction covers all rail operations except underground operations in the mines and amusement parks. These operations span industry sectors ranging from manufacturing, petrochemical, tourism to commuter services among others. The largest of these are Transnet Freight Rail and PRASA. The RSR successfully evaluated railway operators' safety management system reports and we have up to date issued 332 Safety Permits. These include permits for regional railway operators that undertake cross-border operations such as Botswana Railways, Swaziland railways and CFM from Mozambique.

An application for a Safety Permit by a railway operator must be accompanied by a Safety Management System. The are currently 4 types of Safety Permits, namely, a temporary safety permit, a construction train safety permit, a test and commissioning safety permit and a Safety Permit for normal operations. The Permit that is being issued to Bombela today is for normal operations.

Broadly speaking, from a railway operations perspective, the Gautrain Rapid Rail Project may be subdivided into 3 distinct phases,
• Firstly, the operation of construction trains, which include material and ballast trains.
• Secondly, the operation of trains during testing and commissioning of rolling stock and the integrity of the entire railway as a system, including the train authorisation (signalling system), power supply system, radios and other means of communication, the trackwork, and the operational control centre under simulated operating conditions.
• And finally, the operation phase which is about to commence.

The RSR has been working closely with the Bombela Concession Company during all the above phases. In addition to the safety assessments that we have been conducting regularly on the project, we have also issued the following safety permits to enable effective oversight of safety requirements during the undertaking of different phases of the project;
• The first is the Construction train safety permit which was issued to Bombela TKC to enable construction trains to run for OCD 1.
• The second is Test and Commissioning safety permits also issued to Bombela TKC for testing the integrity of operations.

I have previously referred to a Safety Management System as a basis for issuing a Safety Permit. What then is a Safety Management System? Central to safe railway operations is an integrated SMS, which has become practice in Europe, Canada and Australia and has proven to be the most effective way of managing operational safety. Broadly speaking, the SMS is a formal framework for integrating safety into day to day railway operations and includes aspects such as;
• Safety goals and performance targets.
• Operational risk management processes
• Occurrence investigations, management and plans to prevent recurrence.
• Security management which includes security of assets and personal safety
• Safety standards for engineering and operational systems
• Interoperability, interface and intra-face management of railway operations
• Human Factors Management, particularly of safety critical positions which has become a critical element for managing safety.
In submitting an application for a safety permit, the operator has to demonstrate that all of the above elements of the SMS exist in order to enable the RSR to grant a permit. Why then is RSR placing so much importance on the SMS?

The operator's SMS provides assurance to the RSR that safety is being managed in a responsible and structured manner - it also ensures that safety is integrated into the day to day management of railway operations and not regarded as peripheral to the business - it also ensures that safety is subjected to performance measurement and monitoring on par with corporate financial and production goals - it emphasises the importance of a risk management process in managing safety and finally, it provides a structured format to assist operators to manage safety much the same as ISO 9001 assists organisations to manage quality.

The RSR can only issue a Safety Permit once it has evaluated an operator's Safety Management System and is satisfied that all the critical elements of the SMS are in place. The Safety Permit is usually issued with a number of special conditions which are required to be managed by the operator. By issuing a permit, the RSR acknowledges the existence of a Safety Management System and accepts the bona fides of the operator that he has the systems and processes in place to manage operational safety. In other words, the issuing of a Safety Permit does not in any way transfer the responsibility and accountability for safety to the RSR.

I wish to congratulate the Bombela Operating Company for having fulfilled their legal obligations in this regard. It was by no way an easy road but the commitment by both the RSR and Bombela has made us arrive at this point.

We remain positive that our collective efforts at improving safety will lead to the Gautrain that is safe, secure and on track.

Thank you.