Date: 02/04/2009

Source: Department of Transport

Title: SA: Radebe: Keynote address by the Minister of Transport at the Railway Safety Standards launch

Programme director
MEC for Transport
Chairperson and members of the Railway Safety Standards (RSR) Board
Director-General, Ms Mpumi Mpofu
CEO of the Railway Safety Standards, Mr Mosenngwa Mofi
CEOs of the Railway Operators
CEO of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), Mr Martin Kuscus
CEO of Transnet Freight Rail, Mr Siyabonga Gama
The Head of the Railway Police
Southern African Railway Association Board members
Representatives of Labour
Representations of Commuter Organisations
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Programme Director,

Transporting people and goods safely on our railways is a priority of government. Huge numbers of commuters use railway transport as their preferred mode of transport on a daily basis. Likewise millions of tons of goods that oil the wheels of our economy are hauled over our rail systems every year. And thus is our railway system kept alive and vibrant. It was therefore in keeping with the spirit and letter of our Constitution and in line with government's commitment to keep the railways safe and secure, that the Railway
Safety Regulator was established with the promulgation of the National
Railway Safety Regulator Act in 2002.

This was confirmation of the government's commitment to the safety and security of our transport system. Transport is indeed "the heartbeat of South Africa's economic growth and social development", and therefore safety in all modes of transport is a key priority for government. It is in this regard that we have established institutions that regulate safety in all modes of transport, for example, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) in maritime transport, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in aviation, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) in road traffic and the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) in rail transport. These institutions serve to advance our strategic objective of ensuring safety and security of our transport system which in turn, serve to enhance the productive capacity of the economy.

Today marks another milestone in our unwavering commitment to improving safety in our transport system. Safety is the cornerstone of operational efficiency in the railway industry and we must continue to put in place building blocks that will ensure that our interventions in this regards are not only sustainable, but deliver tangible results and directly lead to reduction of transport costs. Railway safety standards are an important driver in ensuring that safety performance in our railways is sustainable.

Distinguished guests, I wish to briefly reflect on the mandate of the RSR in order to provide meaning to today's event. Broadly, the mandate of the RSR is as follows to:

* oversee safety in railway transport, while operators remain responsible for managing safety of their operations
* develop an appropriate regulatory framework through the development of regulations and standards for safe railway operations
* monitor and ensure safety compliance through the conducting of audits, inspections, safety assessments and occurrence investigations
* collect and disseminate information relating to safe railway operations
* promote the harmonisation of the railway safety regime of South
Africa with Southern African Development Community (SADC) railway operations
* promote improved safety performance in order to promote the use of rail.

In pursuance of this mandate, the RSR has, in collaboration with the railway industry and the SABS developed a series of standards to ensure that a common and consistent approach to railway safety in areas such as safety management, technical and operational requirements as well as human factors management. A key to the successful regeneration of the railway system in South Africa, and indeed the sub-region, is the interoperability of the railways. This implies consistent standards and common usage of technology where railway infrastructure is used by more than one operator. To this end, the RSR and the railway industry have and continue to collaborate in developing the overarching broad technical and operating standards.

It is therefore my pleasure to launch the series of the large number of railway safety standards that have been published as part of the Regulator's mandate. The need for harmonisation of safety standards within SADC region is of strategic importance. The RSR is actively facilitating efforts to adopt and align the current railway safety standards by regional railway operators through the Southern African Railway Association.

In addition, I am pleased that the Southern African Railway Association Board has adopted the safety management system as a framework to guide safety management practices by operators' in the region. I wish to commend SARA and the RSR for the sterling work in this regard. With respect to the Gautrain Project, the RSR is working closely with the Bombela Concession Company regarding the proposed standards for the Gautrain Rapid Rail project.

The ongoing engagements between the RSR and Bombela are aimed at ensuring that safety requirements are integrated into the total life-cycle management of the project, from design, construction, testing and commissioning of the project. The RSR has, amongst others, conducted Gautrain reviews and assessments such as safety in railway tunnels, standards for interoperability, signalling, safety system plan and the rolling stock technical description. All these efforts are aimed at ensuring the rapid rail project operates safely once commissioned.

As the RSR strengthens its safety regulatory oversight role, the assessment of the overall safety performance of the railway industry is crucial in identifying areas requiring urgent intervention as well as assessing the impact of the work of the RSR. In this regard, the State of Railway Safety reports have provided the RSR, my department and the railway industry at large with the necessary information to assess safety performance in railways. These reports serve to provide a broad overview of the profile of the railway sector and the general performance by railway operators in different occurrence categories such as collisions and derailments. It furthermore includes the occurrence costs for major operators. These reports therefore play a strategic role in highlighting high risk areas that require focused attention by both operators and the RSR.

Whilst the RSR has reported notable improvement in some reportable railway occurrence categories, urgent interventions are however required to improve safety in the critical occurrence categories such as derailments, collisions, level crossings and security related incidences such as vandalism and theft of operational assets. It has been established that one of the major contributory factors in accidents has been human error. I am encouraged to note that the RSR, together with the industry, is addressing this matter through the development of Human Factors Management standards that focus particularly on safety critical positions such as train drivers and train control officers.

We are paying particular attention to the safety concerns raised by the RSR and I wish to implore operators to ensure that they put in place corrective measures in order to comply with directives issued by the RSR to improve safety. In this regard, I wish to point out that Parliament has recently passed the Amendment of the National Railway Safety Regulator Act (2002) in order to, amongst other factors, strengthen its enforcement capacity through the introduction of fines in the event of non-compliance by operators, as well as address occupational health and safety issues that have a direct impact on operational safety. I hope that organised labour will play a critical role in alerting the RSR on matters relate to occupational health and safety that impact on safe railway operations.

The ability of the RSR and Railway operators to respond to the challenges highlighted in the state of safety reports is of utmost importance. In this regard, all safety interventions made by the industry should, as a minimum, be directed at addressing findings of the RSR. I am however pleased to note great efforts aimed at improving safety in our railways by major operators such as Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) following the implementation of Safety Management Systems and major investments in rail infrastructure and rolling stock.

As we prepare ourselves to host the largest sporting spectacular in world, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and beyond, we are determined to ensure that our rail transport system operates in an efficient and safe manner. The collective activities of the RSR and the railway operators must be calculated to achieve this objective. The RSR is now geared to conduct specific audits and inspections on dedicated passenger routes for 2010 FIFA World Cup as part of its targeted passenger rail specific audits. These audits will focus mainly on infrastructure integrity on dedicated routes.

Over the past years, the RSR has placed a lot of emphasis in auditing the operator's safety management systems, as these provide a sound basis for effective management of safety in the railway environment. I am pleased to note that the RSR is also intensifying targeted technical audits focusing on infrastructure integrity, communication infrastructure, interface management and rolling stock maintenance. This will build on the progress made by the RSR
Inspectorate which has, as at end December 2008, conducted a total of:
* 475 SMS audits at operational sites
* 24 ad hoc inspections
* 42 occurrence investigation
* 50 Design Reviews and Safety Assessment of New Works including the Gautrain Project.

As a result of the above activities the RSR has issued the following directives:
* Eight prohibition directives when immediate threat to railway safety was evident
* 42 non-compliance notices when elements of a safety management system were not implemented and
* 57 improvement directives when there is possible threat to safety, for example physical infrastructure defects.

As I have already indicated, it is imperative that operators comply with directives issued by the RSR in order to improve safety. A strategic decision by government to re-introduce the South African Police Service (SAPS) Railway police has seen over 2143 police officers deployed in the railway environment, which has contributed to crime in our trains being reduced by 38%. At the same time the level of prosecution and arrests had been increased, successful recoveries to the tune of almost R20 million were achieved during the last financial year.

My department provides part funding for the railway policing services and has to date made provisions for the purchase of 20 specialised policing coaches which are currently under construction. Through these interventions, we aim to make commuter travel a pleasurable and safe one.

I also take this opportunity to thank the Minister of Safety and Security for his ongoing support and commitment to improve security as well as the Head of the Railway Police and those men and women in uniform for their dedication in making the railway environment safer. This dedication does not go unnoticed.

It is therefore my pleasure to launch this series of the railway safety standards that have been published as part of the Regulator's mandate. We hope that these standards will serve to realise the following objectives:

* An improvement in safety of operations and services
* The creation of an opportunity for reliability improvements
* A reduction in operating and maintenance costs
* The standardisation of rail components and processes

May I take this opportunity to congratulate the Railway Safety Regulator, Metrorail/PRASA, Transnet Freight Rail, Transnet Freight Rail Engineering, Bombela, the RailRoad Association, the South African Bureau of Standards and other members of the working groups for their support and contribution in developing these standards.

I thank you.