Public Private Partnership regarding safety
The HSL Project Organization considers safety an important aspect of an integral transport system. This implies overlapping areas of attention, such as accessibility of the track and aids for track workers and emergency services (and their personal safety), escape facilities in tunnels, fire-resistance of trains and tunnels. And it implies constructive, scrupulous consultations and agreements with builders, the transport operator and the government.
The result is an innovative combination of state-of-the-art technologies and progressive collaboration between government and private parties on many aspects in the area of safety. Milestones of this collaboration include the Integral Safety Plan and the HSL Safety Committee, which was established by the Minister of Transport and Public Works.
The Integral Safety Case will integrate the following elements: the Safety Case for infrastructure provider Infraspeed (proving that the combination of substructure and superstructure is safe), the Safety Case for transport operator HSA (proving the safety of the rolling stock and the moving trains), and the underpinnings of the safety aspects of rail manager ProRail's system contributions.
The aim of the tests is to see if the whole, i.e. the total of the system parts, is safe. In this respect, an important issue is making sure that all risks at the interfaces between the system contributions from ProRail, HSA and Infraspeed have been identified and solved by one of the parties. For the safety of the total system, it is vital that not a single remaining risk left unsolved because it was unclear which party is responsible for the risk in question.