New South Wales Consolidated Acts

RAIL SAFETY ACT 2008 - SECT 4

4 Interpretation

(1) In this Act:
"accreditation" means accreditation under Part 3.
"accredited person" means a rail transport operator who is accredited under this Act but does not include a person whose accreditation under this Act:

(a) has been surrendered or revoked or has otherwise ceased to have effect under this Act, or

(b) is suspended under this Act.

"approved" means approved by the ITSRR.
"assessor" means an assessor appointed by the Minister under section 71.
"Australian rail safety law" means a rail safety law or a corresponding rail safety law.
"Australian Rail Safety Regulator" means the ITSRR or a corresponding Rail Safety Regulator.
"Board of Inquiry" means a Board of Inquiry constituted by the Minister under section 69.
"Chief Investigator" means the Chief Investigator of the Office of Transport Safety Investigations appointed under the Transport Administration Act 1988 .
"commercial benefits order" means an order under section 142.
"compliance code" means a compliance code approved by the Minister under Part 9.
"corresponding law" means:

(a) the law of another jurisdiction corresponding, or substantially corresponding, to this Act, or

(b) a law of another jurisdiction that is declared by the regulations to be a corresponding law, whether or not the law corresponds, or substantially corresponds, to this Act.

"corresponding rail safety law" means a rail safety law as defined in a corresponding law.
"corresponding Rail Safety Regulator" means a person or body exercising the functions of a Rail Safety Regulator under a corresponding law.
"embargo notice" means a notice under section 98.
"employee" means a person employed under a contract of employment or contract of training.
"employer" means a person who employs one or more other persons under contracts of employment or contracts of training.
"exercise" a function includes perform a duty.
"function" includes power, authority or duty.
"guidelines" means guidelines approved by the ITSRR under Part 9.
"improvement notice" means a notice under section 112.
"ITSRR" means the Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator constituted under the Transport Administration Act 1988 .
"jurisdiction" means a State or Territory.
"motor vehicle" has the same meaning as in the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999 .
"notifiable occurrence" means an accident or incident associated with railway operations:

(a) that has, or could have, caused:

(i) significant property damage, or

(ii) serious injury, or

(iii) death, or

(b) that is, or is of a class that is, prescribed by the regulations to be an occurrence or a class of notifiable occurrence,

but does not include an accident or incident, or class of accident or incident, that is prescribed by the regulations not to be a notifiable occurrence.
"previous offender", in relation to the maximum penalty for an offence, means a person who has, at any time before being sentenced for that offence, been convicted of any other offence of any kind against this Act.
"private siding" means a siding that is managed, owned or controlled by a person, other than a person who manages the rail infrastructure with which the siding connects or to which it has access, but does not include the following:

(a) a marshalling yard,

(b) a crossing loop,

(c) a passenger terminal,

(d) a freight terminal,

(e) a siding, or a siding of a class, prescribed by the regulations not to be a private siding.

"prohibition notice" means a notice under section 117.
"public place" means a place (whether or not covered by water), or a part of premises, that is open to the public, or is used by the public whether or not on payment of money or other consideration, whether or not the place or part is ordinarily so open or used and whether or not the public to whom it is open or by whom it is used consists only of a limited class of persons.
"rail infrastructure" means the facilities that are necessary to enable a railway to operate safely (other than rolling stock and any facility, or facility of a class, that is prescribed by the regulations not to be rail infrastructure) and includes, but is not limited to, the following:

(a) railway tracks and associated track structures,

(b) service roads, signalling systems, communications systems, rolling stock control systems and data management systems,

(c) notices and signs,

(d) electrical power supply and electric traction systems,

(e) associated buildings, workshops, depots and yards,

(f) plant, machinery and equipment.

"rail infrastructure manager" means the person who has effective management and control of the rail infrastructure of a railway, whether or not the person:

(a) owns the rail infrastructure, or

(b) has a statutory or contractual right to use the rail infrastructure or to control, or provide, access to it.

"rail safety inquiry" -see section 69.
"rail safety law" means this Act and the regulations or a provision of this Act or the regulations.
"rail safety officer" means a person appointed by the ITSRR as a rail safety officer under Part 8.
"rail safety work" -see section 7.
"rail safety worker" means a natural person who has carried out, is carrying out or is about to carry out rail safety work.
"rail transport operator" means:

(a) a rail infrastructure manager, or

(b) a rolling stock operator, or

(c) a person who is both a rail infrastructure manager and a rolling stock operator.

"railway" means a guided system, or proposed guided system, designed for the movement of rolling stock having the capability of transporting passengers or freight, or both, on a railway track with a gauge of 600mm or more, together with its rail infrastructure and rolling stock, and includes the following:

(a) a heavy railway,

(b) a light railway,

(c) a monorail,

(d) an inclined railway,

(e) a tramway,

(f) a railway within a marshalling yard or a passenger or freight terminal,

(g) a private siding,

(h) a guided system, or guided system of a class, prescribed by the regulations to be a railway.

Note: See section 5 for railways to which this Act does not apply.

"railway operations" means any of the following:

(a) the construction of a railway, railway tracks and associated track structures or rolling stock,

(b) the management, commissioning, maintenance, repair, modification, installation, operation or decommissioning of rail infrastructure,

(c) the commissioning, maintenance, repair, modification or decommissioning of rolling stock,

(d) the operation or movement, or causing the operation or movement by any means, of rolling stock on a railway (including for the purposes of construction or restoration of rail infrastructure),

(e) the movement, or causing the movement, of rolling stock for the purposes of operating a railway service.

"railway premises" means:

(a) land (including any premises on land) on or in which rail infrastructure or any part of rail infrastructure is situated, or

(b) freight centres or depots used in connection with the carrying out of railway operations, or

(c) workshops or maintenance depots used in connection with the carrying out of railway operations, or

(d) premises, including an office, building or housing used in connection with the carrying out of railway operations, or

(e) rolling stock or other vehicles associated with railway operations.

"railway tracks and associated track structures" means:

(a) railway tracks and associated track structures and works (such as cuttings, sidings, tunnels, bridges, stations, platforms, tram stops, excavations, land fill, track support earthworks and drainageworks), or

(b) over-track structures and under-track structures (including tunnels under tracks).

"rolling stock" means a vehicle that operates on or uses a railway and includes a locomotive, carriage, rail car, rail motor, light rail vehicle, train, tram, light inspection vehicle, self-propelled infrastructure maintenance vehicle, trolley, wagon or monorail vehicle, but does not include a vehicle designed to operate both on and off a railway when the vehicle is not operating on a railway.
"rolling stock operator" means a person who has effective management and control of the operation or movement of rolling stock on rail infrastructure for a particular railway but does not include a person merely because the person drives the rolling stock or controls the network or the network signals.
"running line" means all railway tracks (other than sidings) that are used for the through movement of trains.
"safety" means the safety of people, including passengers, rail safety workers, other users of railways, users of rail or road crossings and the general public.
"safety management plan" means a document describing a safety management system.
"safety management system" -see section 12.
"security management plan" -see section 16.
"siding" means a portion of railway track, connected by points to a running line or another siding, on which rolling stock can be placed clear of the running line.
"supervisory intervention order" means an order under section 143.
"train" means:

(a) two or more units of rolling stock coupled together, at least one of which is a locomotive or other self-propelled unit, or

(b) a unit of rolling stock that is a locomotive or other self-propelled unit.

"train safety recording" -see section 75.
"work health and safety legislation" means the following Acts and any regulations made under those Acts:

(a) the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 ,

(b) the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act 2002 ,

(c) the Mine Health and Safety Act 2004 .

(2) Notes included in this Act do not form part of this Act.