There was no Track Stability Management Plan in place for the section of track where the buckle developed – as was required by the ARTC’s CoP.
The ATSB is satisfied that the action taken by the Australian Rail Track Corporation will adequately address the safety issue.
ARTC now have Track Stability Management Plans for all of our respective Provisioning Centres, these highlight any areas of concern relating to potential rail stress issues. We also continue to undertake rail stress checking over our network, which then feeds in to the Track Stability Management Plans.
The Track Stability of Concrete Sleepered Track procedure is reviewed annually.
Changes are being considered for the rail stressing standards and procedures.
