Minister Ross proposes stricter alcohol and drug provisions for train drivers

“We have to ensure that the highest standards of safety apply on Irish railways” said Minister Shane Ross when he brought a draft General Scheme to Cabinet today to amend the Railway Safety Act 2005 to put stricter drug and alcohol provisions in place for train drivers and other railway safety critical workers.

When the Railway Safety Act was adopted in 2005, blood alcohol limits for train drivers were the same as those applying to motorists on the road. Following changes to Road Traffic legislation since, the statutory alcohol limits applying for professional drivers, like taxi, bus or HGV drivers, have been lowered. Train drivers are currently permitted to have four times more alcohol in their system than the equivalent professional road driver.

Minister Ross stated: “I am delighted that Government has approved today my proposals for a General Scheme to amend the Railway Safety Act 2005. This will bring a new consistency in safety standards set down for train drivers and equivalent professional drivers on the road and will underline again the importance of being fully alert and vigilant when taking responsibility for the safety of passengers.”

As well as updating the statutory limits in relation to alcohol, new provisions for analysis of the concentration level of drugs like cocaine and heroin will be put in place for railway safety workers under the amendment. The General Scheme will also ensure that school bus services provided commercially will be subject to regulatory oversight by the National Transport Authority.

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Note for Editors

Proposed amendment of the Railway Safety Act 2005

A key part of the proposed amendment relates to the statutory alcohol limits that are set out in Part 10 of the Railway Safety Act 2005 for the purposes of criminal prosecution.

It should be noted that the railway organisations (Irish Rail and TransDev – Luas) have strict alcohol and drugs workplace codes already in place for workplace testing at random or following an incident. Safety critical workers who test positive for alcohol or for presence of a drug under this workplace code are liable to have disciplinary sanction imposed by their employer, up to and including dismissal. In effect a ‘zero tolerance’ approach is taken in the context of workplace testing.

The new statutory alcohol limits proposed to be applied under the Railway Safety Act 2005 once it has been amended, will apply for the purposes of criminal prosecution.

Why amend the 2005 Railway Safety Act?

• we have to ensure that the highest standards of safety apply on Irish railways and that up to date legislation is in place. When the Railway Safety Act was adopted in 2005, the blood, breath and urine alcohol limits for train and tram drivers (and for other railway safety critical workers including signal operators, maintenance operatives), for the purposes of criminal prosecution, were the same limits as those applying to motorists on the road
• following the enactment of modernised Road Traffic legislation after 2005, the alcohol concentration limits applying firstly for drivers of a private car and secondly for professional drivers, like taxi drivers, bus drivers or HGV drivers, are now lower than those in place for railway safety workers. In fact, for the purposes of a criminal offence, train and train drivers are currently permitted to have four times more alcohol in their system than the equivalent professional road driver – the limit for the train driver is 80mg while the bus driver is only allowed 20mg (per 100 millilitres of blood)
• we know that driving a train demands more vigilance, given that a train is less responsive than a bus – the driver cannot steer to avoid an obstacle and it also has a much longer stopping distance. It is clear that strict statutory alcohol limits should therefore apply to train and tram drivers
• very strict limits should also apply for other railway safety critical workers (e.g. for persons operating signals) as their vigilance is also critical to ensure the safety of passengers
• the limits for train and tram drivers and for all rail safety critical workers should be consistent with the limits set down for professional drivers under the road traffic law
• the Bill to be drafted will address this with new proposed statutory alcohol limits (see table under). In addition, provisions will be included to ensure that the most up-to-date provisions in relation to sampling and analysis to establish the concentration level of drugs like