Still no progress on recommendations of 57-year-old report to make level crossings safer  

If I ignore a safety hazard on our cattle station and an employee is killed I am instantly liable for industrial manslaughter charges.

So I am completely at a loss to understand how safety recommendations made 57 years ago in a 109-page report entitled “Railway Level Crossing Protection in WA” including the fitting of beacon lighting on trains and the painting yellow of rolling stock (wagons and carriages) for greater visibility and safety still haven’t been actioned by the rail industry or legislated by our government almost six decades later.

The catalyst for this particular report was a spate of serious crashes at railway level crossings in WA that led to the then Cabinet of the day appointing an inter-departmental committee to review and make recommendations on the safety requirements for all level crossings in WA.

On page 7 of the report, it stated ‘the Committee (appointed by the government of WA) considered that the following measures were of sufficient merit to warrant further investigation by the W.A.G.R (Western Australian Government Railways) Commission.

• a) Painting yellow of all rolling stock
• b) The equipping of all engines and guard vans with rotating beacons

On page 28 of the report, it goes on to say that “if engines and guardsvans are equipped with beacons of adequate brilliance, vehicle drivers would be alerted to a much greater degree than they are at present by the train’s whistle or siren. These beacons should prove especially effective at night.”

What did the rail industry do about these recommendations? Absolutely nothing.

What did our government do about these recommendations? They permitted the rail industry to do absolutely nothing.

Fast forward 32 years following the report’s release in 1968 on a dark rainy night at a notorious level crossing in the WA Wheatbelt and three much loved country people (including my youngest brother) were struck and killed by an inadequately lit grain State Government owned Westrail train loaded with 28 wagons of wheat on July 8, 2000.

In the words of State Coroner Alastair Hope who presided over the inquest into their deaths a year later, “the train was not adequately lit and there was no lighting on the train designed to provide an effective warning to motor vehicle drivers at railway crossings’ and as such the train ‘constituted a very serious hazard indeed.”

He recommended that all locomotives be immediately fitted with external auxiliary lighting to effectively warn motorists of oncoming trains.

What did the rail industry do about this urgent safety recommendation? Absolutely nothing.

What did our government do about these recommendations? They allowed the rail industry to do absolutely nothing, and they are STILL allowing the rail industry to do absolutely nothing.

My brother and his friends lost their lives because the rail industry and our government didn’t act on evidence of the risks posed by poorly lit trains to regional road users by a government appointed committee three decades prior and reinforced again by a State Coroner following their untimely deaths.

So, I would like to know, what exactly is the magical triggering rail crash statistic that will force our government to act on mandating safety and visibility lighting on trains because as it stands, our government is well aware that a serious public safety anomaly in regional Western Australia STILL remains uncorrected.

• Since losing her brother in a level crossing tragedy in WA’s Wheatbelt region 25 years ago, Lara Jensen has tirelessly campaigned for mandatory train lighting and improved safety measures at regional level crossings.