News

After two near misses at level crossings in regional Queensland over the weekend, Aurizon is calling on the public to always obey the rules around railway lines and STOP, LOOK, LISTEN, THINK.

In one incident, south of Maryborough a truck crossed a level crossing only 100 metres in front of an approaching freight train. In the other incident, a vehicle struck the boom gates that had descended to protect motorists at a level crossing at Mt Larcom, north of Gladstone.

There are approximately 180 fatalities every year across Australia resulting from people being on the track where they should not be or taking risks at level crossings.

Head of Safety, Health and Environment at Aurizon, Neil Backer, says thousands of near collisions between motorists and trains occur in Australia every year.

“These two incidents occurred within hours of each other and are timely reminder of potentially fatal risks motorists are taking near railways every day,

“Stop risking your life and the lives of others – please obey the road rules at level crossings and do not trespass onto the track.

“Aurizon urges motorists to always obey the rules around railway lines and STOP, LOOK, LISTEN, THINK. Every single death or injury on the rail network is avoidable if people obey the rules.

“It can take a freight train up to two kilometres to stop and they can’t swerve to miss a vehicle on the tracks.

“Every near miss, incident or fatality on the rail network puts the lives of train drivers in danger and causes severe and ongoing trauma to tran drivers and rail employees.

Just like you, our train drivers have families and they want to make it home safely,” Mr Backer says.

In Queensland, careless drivers who ignore rail crossing signals and damage boom gates or bridges can face a maximum penalty of $8,800 and four demerit points.

In addition motorists will also have to pay for repairs to any damage caused by their actions and could lose their licence because of dangerous or reckless driving.

Aurizon launched a new rail safety video last month. Check it out at https://aurizon.com.au/Corporate/Pages/Safety.aspx

KEY STATS

There is 44,262km of track in Australia, and over 5,000 trespass incidents recorded annually.

• There are 23,500 level crossings in Australia.
• There are around 180 fatalities every year across Australia resulting from people being on the track where they shouldn't be or taking risks around railway lines and level crossings.
• Thousands of near misses between motorists and trains occur in Australia every year.
• It takes a fully loaded freight train up to 2km to stop.