|
|
|
INTRODUCTIONThe intent of this Guideline is to clarify for all parties what is required by Section 11 of the amended Federal Railway Safety Act (RSA). A multi-party committee including representatives of the railway industry, consulting engineers, governments, utilities and professional engineering associations developed this guide-line. The amended RSA came into force on June 1, 1999. Section 11 of the amended RSA states as follows: "Engineering work" 11. All the engineering work relating to railway works, including design, construction, evaluation or alteration, shall be done in accordance with sound engineering principles. A professional engineer shall take responsibility for the engineering work. This guideline is to be used by the following parties:
SECTION 1.1 DEFINITIONSThe following definitions are included in the RSA: "crossing work" : a road crossing or utility crossing;"line work"
"railway work" : a line work or any part thereof, a crossing work or any part thereof, or any combination of the foregoing;"road crossing" : that part of a road that passes across, over or under a line of railway, and includes any structure supporting or protecting that part of that road or facilitating the crossing;"road" : any way or course, whether public or not, available for vehicular or pedestrian use;"road authority" : a pubic authority having legal authority to open and maintain roads;"utility crossing" : that part of a utility line that passes over or under a line of railway, and includes any structure supporting or protecting that that utility line or facilitating the crossing;"utility line" : any wire, cable, pipeline or other like means of enabling the transmission of goods or energy or the provision of services.The following terms are used in this guideline to clarify the meaning and intent of Section 11: "alteration"
"chief engineer"
"consulting engineer"
SECTION 1.2"design"
"evaluation"
"practice of professional engineering"
"professional engineer"
"standard design"
"engineering regulators"
"rail safety regulator"
"railway companies"
SECTION 1.3 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PARTIESThe roles and responsibilities of the parties responsible for, or affecting railway works, and who are subject to the pro-visions of Section 11 are described below. Parties or persons carrying out the work related to railway works, must not deviate from the approved design or instructions without first obtaining approval from the responsible professional engineer. SECTION 1.3.1 RAILWAY COMPANIES, UTILITY COMPANIES AND ROAD AUTHORITIESThese parties may own, manage, maintain, construct, or alter railway works or other non-railway works that may affect railway safety. They take overall responsibility for ensuring their works comply with Section 11 of the RSA, and have a duty to retain professional engineers to comply its provisions. They must ensure that resources are made available for the prudent implementation of engineering work related to railway works in accordance with sound engineering principles, safety, and environmental principles. The engineering work must be carried out in accordance with applicable legislation and regulations. These parties must be prepared to provide to Transport Canada, upon request, verification that professional engineers have taken responsibility for any part of the engineering work. SECTION 1.3.2 PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERSThe professional engineer typically works with, or for those parties that own, manage, construct or alter railway works. They also work with, or for adjacent landowners that own, manage, construct or alter non-railway works that affect the safety of railway works. Professional engineers agree to take responsibility for engineering work related to railway works that is under their direction. They shall take responsibility for design, evaluation, construction or alteration work associated with a railway work that affects safety to the public, employees of the railway company, or the environment. The professional engineer must decide the extent to which professional engineers must be directly involved in the engineering work related to railway works. In fulfilling their responsibilities, professional engineers assure that all engineering work relating to railway works is carried out using good engineering judgment, with sound engineering practice, and with the appropriate level of oversight needed for ensuring safety. This includes ensuring that the appropriate systems are in place for the prudent implementation of the engineering work including, but not limited to: design, construction, evaluation, alteration, operation, maintenance, training, environmental, quality assurance, safety, accident investigation, corrective measures, records, and emergency procedures. The professional engineer approves, performs and reviews the implementation of engineering work related to specific railway works in accordance with applicable legislation (e.g. occupational health and safety, environmental laws, etc.). They must maintain a current understanding of applicable regulations and safety requirements with regard to railway works, or parts of works, for which they have, or will accept responsibility. In organizations that do their engineering work internally, there may be a professional engineer identified as the chief engineer or some other title appropriate to the responsibility. This individual is the final authority who decides whether implementation of engineering work related to railway works is in compliance with all applicable legislation and that it demonstrates good engineering practice. The chief engineer will therefore take responsibility for the engineering work. If the organization uses a chief engineer to assume responsibility, that person may delegate all or some of the responsibilities to another professional engineer or several engineers. The latter situation occurs when other professional engineers are involved in engineering work performed under their immediate direction, and not under the immediate direction of the chief engineer. In cases where the engineering work related to railway work is contracted out to a consulting engineering firm or a contractor who teams with a consulting engineering firm, a designated consulting engineer is required to take responsibility. SECTION 1.3.3 ADJACENT LANDOWNERSThese parties may affect the safety of railway works or be affected by railway works in their adjacent construction activities, operations, or maintenance. This includes, but is not limited to, environmental (i.e., noise, spills) and occupational health and safety effects. These parties should ensure that engineering work is done in accordance with the requirements of Section 11 of the RSA (and all other applicable legislation) when they are considering construction or maintenance on their properties or engage in activities that may impact the safety of railway works. SECTION 1.3.4 RAIL SAFETY REGULATORSThese parties are responsible for regulating and enforcing the RSA and other related legislation and guidelines related to rail safety. Transport Canada is the rail safety regulator for the RSA.
SECTION 1.3.5 ENGINEERING REGULATORSThese parties are the 12 provincial and territorial engineering associations/Ordre that regulate the practice of professional engineering in Canada. Their role is to license suitably qualified individuals to engage in the practice of professional engineering. These organizations set qualification standards for entry into the profession, and regulate the practice of professional engineering in accordance with provincial and territorial legislation. The responsibilities of the engineering regulators include registration/licensing of appropriately qualified individuals and, where applicable, entities offering engineering services as well as discipline of individual professional engineers who do not follow the requirements of the RSA, other applicable legislation, or do not meet professional practice or ethical requirements. They also enforce against unlicensed engineering practice. Provincial and territorial engineering regulators also have a responsibility to respond to, and support individual professional engineers on questions of proper professional conduct in their engineering work. SECTION 2.0 DESCRIPTION OF APPLICABLE ENGINEERING WORKS AND RAILWAY WORKSSECTION 2.1 ENGINEERING WORKEngineering work, which is related to any railway work includes, but is not limited to, the following:
SECTION 2.2 RAILWAY WORKSSECTION 2.2.1For the purposes of describing those railway engineering work, there are three components: 1) track and roadway; TRACK AND ROADWAY WORKSThe types of track and roadway works that require engineering work include, but are not limited to, the following:
SECTION 2.2.2 BRIDGES, OTHER STRUCTURES AND UTILITY CROSSINGSThe types of bridges, other structures and utility crossings with-in the railway right-of-way that require engineering work include, but are not limited to, the following: line structures directly supporting track; line structures adjacent or under track;
line structures crossing over track;
adjacent structures within right of way;
SECTION 2.2.3 ROAD CROSSING AND SIGNAL WORKSThe types of road crossing and signal works that require engineering work include, but are not limited to, the following:
Engineering work relating to road crossings includes an assessment of the impact on the safety at the road crossing of alterations on the road and rail approaches. Rail and road authorities jointly share responsibility to ensure that crossings operate safely as a system. This means that any changes to road or rail operation that affect safety need to be assessed as part of the engineering work. Either party contemplating new signal or crossing works, altering existing works or who foresees changes in road or rail operations should communicate with the other party and ensure that appropriate engineering work is carried out. Issues related to road approaches to road crossings, which are the responsibility of the road authority, include, but are not limited to, the following:
Issues related to rail approaches to road crossings, which are the responsibility of the rail authority, include, but are not limited to, the following:
SOURCES FOR FURTHER INFORMATIONRail Safety Regional Offices: http://www.tc.gc.ca/rail/offices.htm |
|
Transport Canada |
Pacific Region |
Prairie & Northern Region |
Ontario Region |
Quebec Region |
Atlantic Region |
About us |
Our offices |
Organization and senior management |
Departmental publications |
Programs and services |
Acts |
Regulations |
[More...] |
Media room |
Advisories |
Contacts |
e-news |
News releases |
Photo gallery |
Reference centre |
Speeches |
Video gallery |
[More...] |
Emergencies |
Emergencies and crises |
Emergency preparedness |
Security |
Transport of dangerous goods |
[More...] |
Air |
Our offices |
Passengers |
Pilots |
Flight instructors |
Maintenance technicians |
Commercial airlines |
Security |
Transport of dangerous goods |
[More...] |
Marine |
Our offices |
Small commercial vessels |
Large commercial vessels |
Pleasure craft |
Marine security |
Marine infrastructure |
Transport of dangerous goods |
[More...] |
Rail |
Our offices |
Safety at railway crossings |
Rail infrastructure |
Rail security |
Transport of dangerous goods |
[More...] |