In 2025, we will be conducting the third post implementation review (PIR) of The Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 (ROGS).
This review is a legal requirement under Regulation 34A of ROGS, with publication of the PIR’s final report by the Secretary of State for Transport required by 25 August 2026.
The purpose of a PIR is to assess the effectiveness of regulations after they have been in operation for a period of time. As there have been minimal changes to ROGS since the most recent PIR in 2021, and as ROGS has consistently been found to be operating well, this will be a light-touch review – primarily focused on identifying where we can make improvements.
What will this review cover?
The focus of the 2026 PIR is: Does ROGS (and the supporting Common Safety Methods) continue to be effective at achieving their objectives? We will be asking industry to consider this question in the context of the UK exiting the EU, wider rail reforms and the creation of Great British Railways.
In practice, this means using the review as an opportunity to find out what is and what is not working in ROGS, and to consider how it could be improved without being limited to solutions agreed by the EU.
The key focus areas for the review will be:
- safety management systems
- safety certifications, authorisations, and verifications
- the role of entities in charge of maintenance (ECMs)
- application of Common Safety Methods (CSMs)
- safety critical work
- new and future technological changes in rail safety, including the use of artificial intelligence
In addition, the review will take advice on how these processes and requirements could be adjusted to fit the new rail landscape under the UK Government’s programme of rail reform.
For reference, the CSMs within scope of this review are:
- CSM for risk evaluation and assessment - Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 402/2013
- CSM for monitoring - Commission Regulation (EU) 1078/2012
- CSM for conformity assessment (safety certificates) - Commission Regulation (EU) 1158/2010
- CSM for conformity assessment (safety authorisations) - Commission Regulation (EU) 1169/2010
Who will be consulted?
ORR and the Department for Transport will conduct targeted consultation with key rail organisations that have duties under ROGs and other affected parties – as is proportionate to a light-touch review.
The focus of this process will be to hear from people with relevant experience of safety management systems, certifications, authorisations, and other requirements under ROGS. It will be important that those engaged in the consultation are authorised to provide input on behalf of their company or organisation, as any views and evidence provided may be included in the final report.
How to feed in
If you are a rail safety professional who would like to engage in the 2026 PIR review process, please send an email to rail.safety@dft.gov.uk confirming the details of your organisation and the areas of ROGS or regime you are interested in by 30 May 2025.
Impact of ROGS: 2021 post implementation review Collapse accordion Open accordion
In 2021, we carried out the second post implementation review (PIR) on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport, with oversight from the Department for Transport (DfT).
The review examined the extent to which ROGS has achieved its aims and whether there had been any unintended consequences.
The scope of the 2021 PIR was ROGS as originally made in 2006 and the subsequent amendments made in 2011 and 2013. Whilst the 2021 PIR did not consider the impact of the changes made to ROGS as part of the UK’s exit from the EU in 2019/20, stakeholders were made aware of those changes and invited to comment on whether they foresaw any impacts for their business.
We conducted a stakeholder survey from November 2020 to January 2021, to provide evidence for the 2021 PIR. Feedback from a workshop/webinar organised by railway bodies (RSSB, Rail Delivery Group and Railway Industry Association) was also considered as part of the evidence.
Conclusions
The 2021 PIR found that ROGS continued to work well, continued to meet their original objectives and had not led to significant unintended consequences. However, the survey also identified that interfaces between ROGS and other legislation and standards were not always clearly understood.
We updated our guidance in 2022 to explain the legal framework and requirements following the legislative amendments made at the end of the EU Exit transition period, and to provide greater clarity on:
- the relationship between interoperability, National Technical Specification Notices and ROGS
- matters for freight end users where ROGS affect their activities
- the relationship between the common safety method (CSM) risk assessment process and ROGS
- the relationship between ROGS and other legislation (e.g. Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974) and the relationship with industry standards
In addition, ORR made a consolidated version of ROGS available to duty holders for guidance purposes. This version included the changes that took effect from the end of the EU Exit transition period.
The 2021 PIR report also recommended that DfT and ORR should:
- consider how human factors requirements developed as part of the amendments to the Railway Safety Directive under the EU’s Fourth Railway Package (2016/798/EU, Article 9, and the Regulation on safety management system (2018/762/EU)) might be incorporated via a future amendment to ROGs
- review the requirement for duty holders to produce an annual safety report and whether the benefits of producing annual reports may be achieved by other non-legislative means
These proposed changes will be considered as part of the 2026 PIR and as part of any future opportunity to amend ROGS.
Impact of ROGS: 2016 post implementation review Collapse accordion Open accordion
In 2016, ORR carried out a post implementation review (PIR) on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport, with oversight from the Department for Transport (DfT).
The review assessed the effectiveness of ROGS and whether ROGS had achieved their original objectives.
The scope of the 2016 PIR was ROGS as originally made in 2006 and the subsequent amendments made in 2011 and 2013.
Many of the requirements of the 2016 PIR were delivered through the findings of the 2010 report. Further evidence was collected through a stakeholder survey, contacting other national safety authorities, and researching ORR data sources and other published data.
Conclusions
The 2016 PIR concluded that ROGS were working well, and the objectives had largely been met with no unintended effects.
The 2016 ROGS PIR report recommended that ROGS should remain in place with some minor regulatory changes to improve clarity. These changes will be considered by ORR as part of any future opportunity to amend ROGS.
In 2020, ORR updated its Guide to ROGS to account for some of the points arising from the 2016 PIR and to improve clarity on some of the terms and requirements of ROGS.
Impact of ROGS: 2010 Nobel Denton Report Collapse accordion Open accordion
In 2006, we commissioned Noble Denton Associates to carry out a baseline survey in 2007 on the performance and impact of ROGS as part of a three-year monitoring and evaluation exercise.
As part of this exercise, we carried out further surveys in 2008 and early in 2009, with the final survey undertaken at the end of 2009.
The report of the final survey (published in 2010) concluded that the majority of objectives of ROGS had either been met or were on their way to being met.
We were therefore confident that the legislation was helping to maintain national standards of rail safety in line with EU requirements and that we were striving for continuous improvement.