This Act may be cited as the Rail Safety Act 1993.
This Act commences on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation.
(1) The object of this Act is to promote the safe construction, operation and maintenance of railways.(2) To facilitate the achievement of this object, this Act provides for:(a) the establishment of a scheme for the accreditation of owners and operators of railways and for the certification of the competency of railway employees performing railway safety work, and(b) the development, and monitoring, of safety performance standards for and with respect to the safe construction, operation and maintenance of railways, and(c) the carrying out of regular safety compliance inspections, the reporting of notifiable occurrences, the holding of inquiries into railway accidents and other incidents and the adoption of other measures aimed at securing rail safety.
A railway is a guided system designed to transport passengers or freight or both (whether or not passengers, freight or both are being transported) on a railway track, together with its infrastructure and associated sidings, and includes a heavy railway, light railway, inclined railway, monorail or tramway.
5 What is the infrastructure of a railway?
The infrastructure of a railway consists of those facilities that are necessary to enable a railway to operate safely and includes, but is not limited to, railway track, associated track structures, over track structures, tunnels, bridges, stations, platforms, signalling systems, train control systems, communication systems, overhead electrical power supply systems, buildings, workshops and associated plant, machinery and equipment.
Rolling stock means any vehicle that operates on or uses a railway track, including a locomotive, carriage, rail car, rail motor, light rail vehicle, train, tram, light inspection vehicle, road/rail vehicle, trolley, wagon or monorail vehicle but does not include a vehicle designed to operate both on and off a railway track or tracks when the vehicle is not operating on a railway track or tracks.
7 Owners and operators of railways
(1) An owner, in relation to a railway, is a person who is responsible (whether by reason of ownership, control or management) for the construction and maintenance, or the construction or maintenance, of infrastructure of a railway.(2) An operator, in relation to a railway, is a person who is responsible for the operation of a railway.(3) In this Act, operate, in relation to a railway, means:(a) operate or move, or cause the operation or moving, by any means, of any rolling stock on a railway, and includes operate a railway service if the operator of the service operates or moves, or causes the operation or moving of, rolling stock, or(b) construct and maintain, or construct or maintain, rolling stock.
8 Railways to which Act applies
(1) This Act applies to:(a) any railway within, or partly within, the State with a railway track gauge equal to or greater than 600 mm, and(a1) the Darling Harbour monorail transport system, and(b) any other system designed to transport passengers or freight or both and declared by the regulations to be a railway for the purposes of this Act,and to the operation of any such railway.(2) This Act does not apply to:(a) a railway in a mine which is underground or predominantly underground and to which the provisions of the Coal Mines Regulation Act 1982 or the Mines Inspection Act 1901 or regulations or rules made under those Acts apply, or(b) a railway operated at an amusement park the operator of which holds a certificate of exemption from compliance with the requirements of this Act issued by the Director-General, or(c) an aerial, cable operated transportation system.
(1) This Act binds the Crown in right of New South Wales and, in so far as the legislative power of Parliament permits, the Crown in all its other capacities.(2) In particular, this Act, in so far as it applies to the safe construction, operation and maintenance of railways, applies to any such construction, operation and maintenance carried on by Australian National Railways, the National Rail Corporation Limited, the State Rail Authority, Rail Infrastructure Corporation or otherwise carried on by the State, the Commonwealth or another State or a Territory.(3) If the Director-General is the owner or operator of a railway, the functions of the Director-General under this Act in relation to the ownership or operation of the railway are to be exercised by the Minister or a person authorised by the Minister.
Words and expressions used in this Act (or in a particular provision of this Act) which are defined in the dictionary at the end of this Act have the meanings set out in the dictionary.