The Australian and New Zealand rail industries have launched Rail Safety Week, an annual initiative that sees passenger and freight rail operators, governments and the police come together to promote rail safety messages to local communities and the public across Australasia.
The awareness campaign was launched at a supersite billboard on the Hume Highway near Goulburn, with the week-long campaign message 'Train yourself' aiming to reinforce the fact that the onus is on the individual to always obey the rules around railway lines and STOP, LOOK, LISTEN, THINK.
ARA CEO Bryan Nye emphasised the importance of people remaining aware and vigilant around railway lines, level crossings and stations.
"Railway safety remains one of the industry's highest safety priorities with Australia's rail network being the sixth largest in the world, with 44,000km of track and 23,500 level crossings," said Mr Nye.
"On this network there are 5,000 trespass incidents, 70 level crossing collisions, around 180 fatalities and thousands of near misses reported every year. All are a direct result of taking risks and disobeying the rules around railway lines and level crossings.
"Rail is the safest form of land transport. The issue is behavioural — when people go to take risks around railway lines, they fail to realise that trains always have right of way and simply cannot stop quickly. It can take a fully loaded freight train up to 2km to stop," Mr Nye continued.
"Every single death or injury on the rail network is avoidable if people obey the rules, we therefore simply cannot afford to let this issue fall off the radar," said Mr Nye.
Under the message of 'Train yourself', the TrackSAFE Foundation, will be running an awareness campaign, using billboards on major roads, posters in train stations and brochures in community and information centres imploring people to train themselves to stop, look, listen and think when around train lines.
"Anyone choosing to take shortcuts, walk on or near train tracks, or ignore railway level crossing signals is not only risking their own lives but the lives of the train driver, crew, and passengers. Just like you, rail employees want to make it home safely," Mr Nye said.
ATSB targets worker safety during Rail Safety Week
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released a new YouTube video highlighting the risks and hazards of working on rail, as part of Rail Safety Week.
The video features animation from a fatal accident where a passenger train collided with an excavator near Newbridge, NSW.
ATSB chief commissioner Martin Dolan said safe work on rail is an issue that needs heightened attention from the rail industry.
"The ATSB has investigated several accidents that have occurred when maintenance work was being carried out around railway tracks," Mr Dolan said. "These accidents were primarily the result of safe working rules and procedures not being correctly implemented.
"We think more can be done to improve the safety of rail workers, particularly in the areas of good work practices, coordination and communication.
"The accident highlighted on this video provides a powerful reminder of the importance of following rules and procedures."
The video can be found on the ATSB's YouTube channel (ATSBinfo).
