Latest news
Public consultation on the Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement (C-RIS) outlining proposed reforms to the Rail Safety National Law (RSNL) has now closed.
The proposed reforms aim to modernise the RSNL to better support national rail interoperability and greater harmonisation across the industry, while maintaining safety as the law’s primary objective.
We received 26 submissions in response to the C-RIS. These submissions will help inform the development of a Decision RIS, which will be provided to ministers later this year.
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Background - creating an interoperable rail system
Australia’s rail system is made up of 18 separate rail networks with 11 different signalling systems, and countless different rules, standards and techniques.
With $155 Billion spend modernising our rail network, there is strong national support across governments and industry to reduce these differences. This will improve connectivity across networks and make rail simpler, safer and more efficient.
Interoperability Management Plan (IMP)
As a first step a new requirement was included in the RSNL National Regulations in November 2025.
This means rail transport operators on the National Network for Interoperability (NNI) now need to have systems and processes in place that identify and consider interoperability matters. These must be applied when making changes to operations on the NNI.
If interoperability matters are identified, an Interoperability Management Plan will be required.
To help operators comply with these changes, the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) has published an Interoperability of Railway Operations Guideline.
The NTC is exploring further changes to embed interoperability requirements into the RSNL via a Consultation Regulator Impact Statement (C-RIS).
