Re: NRC & Douglas Park

[keithm@happy.dca.gov.au (Dave Malcolm)]

In article <mauried.455.3814DD3F@commslab.gov.au> mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly) writes:
>From: mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly)
>Subject: Re: NRC & Douglas Park
>Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 22:44:15 GMT



>>In NSW the Rail Safety Act is administered by NSW Dept of Transport. This
>>covers most of the above aspects of surveillance. Furthermore Rail Access
>>Corp has various powers in regard to the trains permitted to operate on its
>>tracks.


>>Geoff


>There is no doubt that the above organizations have the powers to enact 
>surveillance and inspection of trains , but in reality do they do it, ie does 
>DOT or RAC have rail inspectors travelling around the state inspecting trains?
>Ive certainly never heard of any , and from a more practical perspective would 
>they have people with the correct expertise available.
>There is also in the RAC case , a severe conflict of interest in that RAC 
>derives all its income from having trains running over its tracks,so that the 
>last thing they would want is to stop trains running .
>If we go back to the road analogy,the police dont own the roads , nor do they 
>gain financial benefit from having more users on the roads,so that putting 
>vehicles off the roads has no financial effect .

>MD

There seems to be some mis-understanding of the role of RAC and DOT. Each 
operator  is required to have there own standards for mantenance of rolling 
stock,these are layed out in the accreditation documents, which must be 
approved by DOT and any railway owner (RAC) on which they operate on. It is up 
to the operator to keep to there own standards and the DOT only ensure you do 
maintain these standards. The DOT inspectors do exist and do carry out regular 
inspections, but I think they can carry out on the spot audits aswell.

Dave Malcolm