Australia’s largest rail freight operator says new safety measures need to be urgently introduced to prevent more deaths at level crossings across the country.
Key points:
- Australia’s largest rail freight operator is calling for a national summit on level crossing safety
- It follows the death of two of its train drivers in a crash near the SA and NSW border on New Year’s Eve
- The SA and QLD governments say they are open to supporting a push for new safety measures
Pacific National has called on federal and state governments, industry groups and private operators to hold a national summit on level crossing safety.
It follows the death of Port Augusta train drivers Mick Warren and Kevin Baker after their train collided with a truck at a level crossing near Bindarrah on New Year’s Eve.
A Queensland truck driver has been charged over the crash, which occurred near the South Australian and New South Wales border.
Pacific National chief executive Paul Scurrah said staff were “heartbroken” over the incident, while the grief of the families of the two train drivers was “front and centre and very obvious”.
“We owe it to those families, the families of Mick and Kevin, to learn as much as we can from this event to make sure we do what we can to prevent it from ever happening again,” Mr Scurrah said.
Mr Scurrah said there were 23,000 level crossings across the country, and different approaches would be needed.
“There is no silver bullet to fixing level crossing safety … it’s not going to be a single solution for every level crossing,” he said.
“We have to assess them, make sure that we understand the risks that are in place for every one of them and put appropriate measures in place.”
Mr Scurrah said there were, on average, 28 deaths at level crossings each year.
“Sometimes that’s rail employees, sometimes that’s road employees. It doesn’t matter. All lives matter,” he said.
“More has to be done, it has to be done more quickly and we are calling for an urgent summit nationally.”
In 2022, the federal government committed $180 million over four years to improve safety around railway crossings in regional areas.
Acting Transport and Infrastructure Minister Katy Gallagher said the government took improving level crossing safety seriously and was “already taking action to make change”.
“We have also endorsed the National Level Crossing Strategy which aims to have zero harm at Australia’s level crossings, and have endorsed a code of practice with states and territories to improve train illumination,” Ms Gallagher said.
South Australian Police and Emergency Services Minister Joe Szakacs said the safety of workers should always be a priority.
“I know that our state government will support the industry in ensuring their work with the federal government is heard and that those federal rail crossings are safe and that where upgrades of course are necessary to protect life, that will be done,” Mr Szakacs said.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles said the government was “happy to engage” with Pacific National and the federal government, and said some level crossings were already being removed in Queensland.
“We’re certainly focused on the removal of level crossings both for network efficiency, for travel times, and for safety,” Mr Miles said.
