Published 10 March 2026 by the RLM Consult Certify Comply team
The National Transport Commission (NTC) has released its consultation regulatory impact analysis for the review of the Rail Safety National Law, setting out 12 proposed reforms. Submissions close on Monday 4 May 2026, and an industry information session was held on 26 February. This is the most significant look at the national law since it commenced in 2013, and it will shape how accreditation, safety management systems and enforcement work for the next decade. Operators and contractors who live under the law every day should be part of it.
What the review is trying to fix
The national law was written for a rail industry that was about to be unified and has since changed in ways the drafters did not anticipate: automation and digital signalling, new entrants delivering major projects as accredited operators, a workforce that moves between states, and a regulator whose compliance tools were designed around prosecution rather than the graduated approaches now common in work health and safety law. The NTC’s stated goals are a law that is clearer, more consistent across jurisdictions, better at handling new technology, and more proportionate in how it treats different sizes and types of operator.
The themes behind the 12 proposals
The proposals cover the full life of an operator’s relationship with the regulator. Grouping them, the areas that matter most to the operators and contractors we work with are these.
- Accreditation and registration. How the law decides who must be accredited, how applications and variations are assessed, and how low risk operations are treated. Construction railways and short term operations are a live issue here, because major projects now routinely require contractors to hold accreditation as rail infrastructure managers for the duration of the works.
- Safety management systems. Whether the prescribed content of a safety management system in the regulations should be modernised, and how the law deals with outsourcing and the growing chain of contractors under a single accreditation.
- Fitness for duty. Drug and alcohol testing and fatigue management, where the jurisdictions still differ, and where a national approach would remove the duplication operators face when they cross borders.
- Compliance and enforcement. New tools such as enforceable undertakings and infringement notices, and clearer duties for officers, bringing the law closer to the model WHS framework.
- New technology and interoperability. How the law accommodates automation, digital train control and the interoperability requirements that commenced last November.
Why a submission is worth your time
Regulatory reviews are decided by the evidence submitted, and the large operators and peak bodies will submit. If the experience of small and mid sized accredited operators and contractors is missing, the reforms will be designed around the large ones. Three examples where practical evidence changes outcomes:
- The cost and time of obtaining accreditation for a construction railway that will exist for eighteen months.
- The duplication between ONRSR accreditation, Technically Assured Organisation schemes and head contractor prequalification for the same management system.
- What actually happens when a contractor’s rail safety workers move between networks with different drug and alcohol and fatigue rules.
How to write one that carries weight
Answer the consultation questions rather than writing an essay. Quantify wherever you can: hours, dollars, days of delay, number of audits. Give specific examples from your operations, anonymised if necessary. Say which of the 12 proposals you support, which you oppose and why, and where you have an alternative. A two page submission with three real examples beats twenty pages of principle.
Also this month
ACCIONA reported on 4 March that the first towers of HumeLink East are up, five of the 467 that will carry the new 500 kV line through southern New South Wales. And on 5 March Sydney Water announced the $300 million Scheme 2 award to the North West Hub Alliance of John Holland, KBR and Stantec, the next stage of water and wastewater capacity for Sydney’s north west growth area. Transmission and water are procuring in volume while the rail programs move through their early works, and both sectors use the same certification and safety evidence to select subcontractors.
Frequently asked questions
When do submissions to the Rail Safety National Law review close?
Submissions to the National Transport Commission’s consultation regulatory impact analysis close on Monday 4 May 2026.
Who administers the Rail Safety National Law?
The Rail Safety National Law is administered by the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR), and the National Transport Commission (NTC) is responsible for reviewing and maintaining the law on behalf of Australia’s transport ministers.
Will the review change my accreditation?
Not immediately. The consultation closes on 4 May 2026, after which the NTC will report to transport ministers and any agreed reforms will need legislative change. Existing accreditations remain in force throughout.
Do rail contractors need to be accredited?
A contractor needs accreditation only if it carries out railway operations as a rail infrastructure manager or rolling stock operator in its own right, for example when it controls a construction railway. Contractors working under another operator’s accreditation do not, but they must comply with that operator’s safety management system.