Oman Rail is looking to appoint an Independent Safety Assessment (ISA) consultant for delivering a safe and reliable national rail network following the floating of a tender last week, a report said.

The winning company will be a competent agency that will provide independent safety assessment and safety audit services covering the length of the 2,135-km national rail network, Oman Observer said in a report.

The principal task of the selected ISA, according to Oman Rail, is to provide assurance that safety targets and safety requirements are defined and achieved for a specific railway product, system or network and that related statutory undertakings have been addressed, stated the report, citing a senior official.

"(The ISAs) make formal categorised observations, identify non-conformances for a defined activity and will make recommendations and propose corrective actions to enable a project to progress to the next phase," stated John Lesniewski, chief commercial officer at Oman Rail.

"They are free of commercial influence and outside of line management and through rigorous, life-cycle based safety assessment and safety audit, they provide confidence to clients, contractors, suppliers and regulators that risks imported onto the railway network are reduced to be As Low As is Reasonably Practicable (ALARP)," he added.

“We are establishing a culture of safety in the Oman Rail from the get-go,” remarked John Lesniewski, chief commercial officer at Oman Rail while speaking at a key forum held in capital Muscat recently.

He described safety as part of a ‘trilogy’ of cornerstones that will underpin the national network’s long-term success - integration and development being the other key priorities.