Twelve Australian families, who have all lost loved ones in rural and regional rail crossing crashes, have united in their calls for action.
Together they’ve launched the RailFail campaign, which is pushing for the Australian government to legislate mandatory train and rolling stock lighting and force the rail corporations to install proper safety measures at rural and regional Australian rail crossings.
Currently, 80 per cent of rail crossings outside metropolitan Australian cities don’t have flashing warning lights or boom gates, and many of the trains don’t have safety lighting.
In 2000, West Australian pastoralist, Lara Jensen’s 20-year-old brother, Christian and his friends Jess Broad and Hilary Smith, were killed at night when a train smashed into their car at a railway crossing that was only fitted with a give way sign. None of the occupants saw the train and no alcohol, speed or drugs were involved in the accident.
Christian’s family have campaigned for safer railway crossings ever since, but Lara says that all these years on, still nothing has changed.
“For decades, we have campaigned to save lives and been met with an obstructive rail industry, a toothless regulator and successive governments unwilling to force the most basic safety reforms,” Jensen said.
“As a result of this inaction, we’ve needlessly lost many more people at rail crossings and the figure grows every year,” she continued.
“In many industries, flashing lights and side lighting are used to warn people of an approaching hazard.
“It’s crazy that trains, which hurtle across more than 20,000 level crossings in the country and can be up to 1.8km long, only have similar lighting to the tiny light you see on motorbikes.
“Coroners, safety reviews, the Monash Institute of Railway Technology and numerous committees have all recommended better lighting, such as rotating beacons or strobe lights on trains. The rail industry has refused to budge. This has inevitably led us to conclude that the rail industry and its safety regulator don’t really care and the only way they will bring in adequate safety measures is if the federal government mandates them.
“We’re now in 2024. My husband and I have four little kids. Little kids my brother will never meet. I’m beginning to fear railway crossings will still be as dangerous by the time my kids learn to drive. Are we really prepared to lose the next generation of kids to these poorly lit trains and needlessly dangerous railway crossings?”
Jensen says that while she knows it’s a David and Goliath battle, as the families push for change, they’re prepared to continue the fight.
“In the interests of the safety of all Australians it’s a battle worth having. We’re up against ASX listed rail corporations with the deepest pockets and teams of spin doctors, lobbyists, and lawyers,” she said.
“We don’t have those resources but what we do have is the facts documenting the rail industry’s failings and love and grit in equal measure. Together, we’re giving our all to ensure the deaths of our loved ones count for something.”
With regard to Rail Level Crossings with only a give way sign and no lighting whatsoever.
Any truck and or trailer or trailers on any road must be fitted with adequate lighting. It is a legal requirement of all state government transport agencies.
Why does a train of any description or length only require a single red light at the rear and one extremely bright high beam head light or low beam head light. I have been blinded by train head lights at night when the driver has not dipped his or her headlight!
I have delivered polypipe to a lot of the outback areas of Queensland and have had to cross more level crossings than most people have had roast dinners. So many are crowded in natural bush blocking out any vision of the track or any approaching train. I have stopped and turned off my truck, climbed out to see past the bush for an approaching train. And broken off branches that nlocked my view of the track. One single branch of a tree can block out a whole coal train when the train is in line with your only line of sight!
Often, a sign at a crossing or at an intersection is set at the same height as a truck window completely blocking any view of an approaching train or vehicle.
I believe signs could have small holes (bullet holes?) in them in the gaps between the writing or around the perimeter. You can still read the words, but most importantly see through thr little holes for any approaching train or vehicles.
A truck cannot drive legally with any clearance, head or tail lights not working. Ask anyone who has been defected for one not working out of 100 lights along the sides of a truck or trailer? Yet a train can run through every level crossing without a single clearance light. How hard would it be to add clearance lights to every carriage? Every toolbox meeting before every trip should be bringing that up.
I was an OH&S Chairman in the late 90s in a warehouse full of Holden Parts. It eas when Work, Health and Safety first started to take over work sites. We had an electric forklift to load and unload stillages of Parts. The forks only reached just short of the muddle of the trailer. Some stillages were the width of the trailer. Every time they were unloaded several workers would hand off the rear of the forklift to balance it. Picture a yatch in a good breeze on the water!
I made sure it was written up in every monthly meeting with the boss’s name as the one refusing to fix the problem. I resigned my job and climbed back in to a truck before the problem became a tragedy waiting to happen.
Many things can be fixed easily but too many people fob it off as not their problem.
Maybe level crossings could be fixed if truck drivers simply refuse to cross dangerous ones using their tool box meetings to force change. You cannot do anything that creates a dangerous situation when there is a way to remove the danger!
Regards,
Ron
Totally agree,their is no excuse why train,s cannot be lit up like Christmas trees with daytime LEDs and night LEDS. Also stop painting wagons in camoflauge painting scheme’s. The penalty for graffiteing a train should include a jail sentence as this also adds to the camoflauge.
The following is the text of a letter I wrote recently to “Railway Digest” magazine. That letter was published, in full, in their October 2024 issue:
“There’s been quite a bit of dialogue recently about level-crossings and heavy road-vehicles; most recently by Barry Seghers (August issue); and, previously, by David Smith of the Australian Trucking Association (June issue). Perhaps I could add my ‘two bobs worth’. Although I have a great liking and enthusiasm for rail transport, I am a retired professional driver. I have driven heavy-vehicles both within cities and as an inter-state driver. Let me make a clear point to all drivers: trains have an absolute right-of-way at railway level-crossings. It is the onus of every driver; and, especially heavy-vehicle drivers; to stop and allow trains safe passage. There are no exceptions, and no excuses for not stopping. Any heavy-vehicle driver who believes that they have the right to ‘beat the train’ is an idiot; and, should not be entrusted with a driving licence”.
Train are big, and very noisy. If you can’t see there’s a train crossing the road in front of you, you shouldn’t be driving. Trains have a very powerful front head-light; not “…similar lighting to the tiny light you see on motorbikes”. If you can’t see that powerful head-light coming towards you, you shouldn’t be driving. Most so-called drivers seem to regard having a driving licence as a ‘right’, rather than a ‘responsibility’; and, that includes some heavy-vehicle drivers. I started driving heavy-vehicles when I was 16; now, I’m 72. In all my 56 years of professional driving, I’ve never had a problem stopping at a railway crossing, to check if there’s a train coming. It’s the vehicle driver’s responsibility to stop for the train; not the other way around. The train driver can’t turn off the track, no matter how many lights are on the train. Cars and trucks can turn off the road, if necessary; and, they can stop at a railway crossing. Trucks and trailer-combinations, of all sizes, have numerous clearance lights all down their sides; yet, some car drivers still manage to crash into them, usually at intersections. That’s because they are either drunk; or, on drugs; or, speeding; or, not following the road-rules; or, not paying attention; or, they are just idiots who shouldn’t be allowed to drive. I reiterate what I said in my letter to “Railway Digest”: trains have an absolute right-of-way. It’s up to the vehicle drivers to stop, and yield that right-of-way.