Railway Safety Cases

Advanced Railway Safety Case Production Tool of Railway Research Centre (http //www.railway.bham.ac.uk/advanced.htm)—the research addressed the requirements for a Safety Case Automated Production Tool (SCAPT) environment integrating systems engineering processes and tools, modeling, risk management and domain knowledge. 

New r ularions have also been made under the HSW Act, namely the Railways (Safety Case) Reguladons, 1994 (see below), the Railways (Safety Critical Work) Regulations, 1994, and the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail Reguladons, 1996. 

The new arrangements for health and safety which accompanied privatization were referred to by those in the industry as a safety cascade . This describes a system which greatly extends previous notions of self-regulation, by making the infrastructure controllers responsible for overseeing the safety of the operational network under the supervision of HSE . These controllers thus have responsibihties for their own activities under the HSW Act and for the entire operational network under the 1993 Railways Act. The key to this system is the Railway Safety Case (RSC). 

Assist in the development and validation of Railway Safety Cases within the Railway Group. 

The preparation of risk assessments for Railway Safety Cases. 

Any organization which manages infrastructure or operates trains or stations in the UK must currently write a railway safety case and have it accepted before starting operations. The operator must then follow their safety case. Among other things, the operator s railway safety case must describe ... 

The second possible model is the Railway Safety Cases (RSC) that bidders for the operations of the privatized railways in Britain were asked to complete (Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 1994). New regulations were required because the previously nationalized vertically-integrated railway system was broken up and passed to the private sector. Track and signaling is now vested in a privately-held infrastructure company, the shares of which are traded on the London stock market. The freight operations were sold to the Wisconsin Central Railroad. Passenger operations were divided into twenty-five regional operations, and franchises were let for periods varying from five to fifteen years. The successful bidders commenced operations between February 1996 and March 1997. 

Table 20.1 Required Contents of British Railway Safety Cases...

The new approach required self-inspections and the taking of responsibility for planning and implementing health and safety improvements. To a certain extent there are strong similarities with the Railway Safety Cases required in Britain. Firms have to show plans of how they deal with injuries occurring in the workplace. 

Evans, Andrew W. (1995). "Railway safety cases and railway risk assessment in Britain." Proceedings, Fourth International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport, Rotorua, New Zealand, pp. 170-188. 

Health Safety Executive. (1994). Railway Safety Cases Guidanace on Regulations. Sudbury HSE Books. 

A Railway Safety Case has been a requirement for contractors such as the IMU who wish to operate rail mounted plant or vehicles on the Railtrack network. 

Railtest is by definition a train operating company and in common with other train operators requires a Railway Safety Case. This has been applied for but at the time of writing has not been obtained from Railtrack. In addition to this Railtest requires a Operating Licence and now that it has been incorporated application has been made to the office of the Rail Regulator for such a licence and is expected to be available around the end of December 1995. 

Rail Operations is a small unit who oversee the operating of Railtest s fleet of locomotives and other vehicles. It provides the operating inter ce with Railtrack and will have a key part to play in satisfying the needs of the Railway Safety Case. Rail Operations also manage the Old Dalby Test Track, a 21Km railway line which runs from Nottingham to Melton Mowbray. 

Implementing a management system for underground railway safety cases... 

Railway safety cases provide a means of reconciling the need for a legislative framework for safety on the privatised railway with the Victorian principles outlined by Major Holden in his paper to this seminar (Ref 1) and with a modem goal-setting approach to safety legislation. 

Safe operation of the mainline railways rests on reciprocal responsibilities of all the railway management participating in the operation of the railway network. These responsibilities are set out in railway safety cases which make visible the railway s safety arrangements, and ensure that all concerned are aware of their safety responsibilities. 

This accident accelerated the development and implementation by British Rail of its Total Quality Management Initiative with associated internal and external auditing. The Railway Inspectorate s remit in monitoring safety of the railways was extended and transferred from the Department of Transport to the Health and Safety Executive in order to improve its degree of independence. This accident was instrunoental in the establishment of a requirement for railway Safety Cases. 

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