$180 Million for Level Crossing Safety pledged in Federal Budget 2022-2023

Passive Level Crossing Safety

The CWA of WA is continuing pressure on the issue of Improving Train Lighting and Passive Level Crossing Safety around Australia.  This has been the focus of efforts over the last year alongside passionate campaigner, Lara Jensen, a member of the CWA Kirkalocka Branch whose brother, Christian and his friends were killed when their car collided with a wheat train on the Yarramony Road level crossing near Jennacubbine in 2000.  Lara has dedicated her life to ensuring no other family suffers such a tragedy and has been lobbying Government and industry to improve safety standards since this time.  The CWA of WA joined the journey with her over a year ago (as did CWA of NSW) to add a voice to this devastating problem which poses serious dangers to regional motorists.

We were delighted to welcome the following news announced in the Federal Budget 2022-2023:

Regional Australia Level Crossing Safety Program: The Australian Government’s Regional Australia Level Crossing Safety Program (RALCSP) will provide around $180 million in 2025-26 to improve safety at level crossings in regional areas nationwide. Due to the growing freight task nationally, including demand for agricultural goods, which are primarily transported through regional Australia on trains and heavy vehicles, the risk of level crossing accidents is expected to increase. The RALCSP includes funding for regional level crossing safety treatments like improved signage, boom gates, flashing lights and road rumble strips. The RALCSP will also support: greater awareness of the risks associated with level crossings; data improvements to inform risk assessments of level crossings; and research and technology trials for low cost level crossing safety innovations that can be quickly deployed.

Train Lighting

There is still much work to be done by the rail industry to ensure that locomotives are adeqately lit with flashing beacons and that rail wagons are equipped with reflective light strips.  For decades, the rail industry has used delay tactics to seemingly avoid implementing these safety measures.

The Campaign

Unfortunately, recommendations by three State Coroners (WA, NSW and Victoria) as well as findings from numerous committees on train illumination and passive level crossing safety after several high-profile crashes around Australia, have all been ignored by the rail industry for several decades.

The Yarramony Road level crossing accident involved a train carrying 28 wagons of wheat that killed three beautiful rural young people as none of them saw the train.  This accident was one of the worst rail crashes in WA history and was one of the key catalysts for the formation of the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) to oversee compliance with the National Rail Safety Law.  Unfortunately, however, the ONRSR has done nothing since it came into being to address this issue and more than 22 years on from this triple fatality there has been no significant improvement to train lighting.

What Lara Jensen and all our supporting organisations advocate for are:

  • Flashing warning lights be in place at all passive level crossings with Give Way signs replaced with Stop signs as a minimum standard.  (Passive level crossing are those with only Give Way or Stop Signs and no other safety measures such as barriers or lights).

  • An upgraded lighting system including a rotating beacon (at a height easily visible to drivers) on the front of locomotives:  The flashing light is the universally accepted indicator of a hazard on our roads and has been used in all other industries for decades.

  • Side lighting on rail wagons:  This is a critical aspect of rolling stock visibility and again, one that has been neglected for decades.  We know that reflective strips along grain train wagons (a relatively cheap solution) should be a bare minimum requirement for rail companies.

The tragedy of the unnecessary loss of life is only equalled by the lack of any significant action by the Rail Industry after 22 years of lobbying.  The main barrier to progress appears to be a stalemate of responsibility.  Road rules stipulate that cars and pedestrians should always give way to trains and therefore the onus is on the driver / person to take action to avoid a collision.  However, if visibility is low, the Give Way or Stop signs obscured by vegetation, the in-vehicle road to rail angle is restricted, the windows are up and the radio on, it would be very difficult to see or hear an oncoming train.  Just as a driver is held responsible if a pedestrian is hit (no matter the circumstances), so too must the Rail Industry accept that lack of train visibility is part of the problem and that installing adequate warning lighting and reflective strips to all train carriages is part of the solution. 

If you would like to read further about this matter, please click the link below:

Opinion Piece by Lara Jensen