TA 24: Saving lives at level crossings

The session was chaired by Rachel Smith, the national executive director of the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association. She is a person representing truck operators who are only too aware of level crossing hazards.

The two experts who commented from the lectern were Christopher Wren and Sal Petroccitto. Dr Wren is a smartly-kitted lawyer, who joined the ATA in 2023 as Senior Policy Advisor and leads the ATA’s work on the level crossing issues. Mr Petroccitto has headed up the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator as CEO since 2013.

The presentations began with a video of a long freight train transiting an unlit level crossing in the middle of the night. The entire train was also unlit, making it difficult for approaching road vehicle drivers to make out anything on the tracks, amid general blackness.

“Between the July, 2014 and December, 2022, there were 39 lives lost and 49 serious injuries at rail crossings in this country,” opened Chris Wren.

“Those aren't just numbers (but) are men and women who left home and never returned.

“And there have been thousands of near-misses at level crossings, all across the country.

“This is a really big, complex problem.”

Dr Wren pointed out that level crossing collisions involving heavy vehicles were more likely to lead to injuries of the occupants of rail vehicles, more likely to damage rail vehicles and track, and more likely to derail trains.

There were 11 collisions between heavy road vehicles and trains at level crossings across Australia between July 2020 and June 2021, with 23 such collisions over the previous five years, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), predominantly from a 2024 document, entitled The Review of Level Crossing Collisions Involving Trains and Heavy Road Vehicles in Australia.

The ATSB's work  indicates that human error – road drivers not seeing trains – is a large contributor to potential incidents.

“The ATSB admits that any controls that help road users detect the presence of trains will provide an enhanced level of safety,” said Dr Wren.

“The ATA, along with numerous other groups and plenty of peer-reviewed academic and scientific journals, considers that illuminating trains better – ideally with flashing lights – is an effective control that will enhance safety.

“I'm quite new to this subject but I have seen 25 and 30 year-old coroner's records that are making the same recommendations for illumination that we're making now.

“One of the things (the ATA) is doing is advocating for train illumination to be a legal requirement.”

Christopher Wren said that the rail regulator currently has a code of practice, entitled Level Crossings and Train Visibility, but the document is entirely voluntary and leaves the decision on whether rolling stock operators increase train visibility up to them.

Several studies have examined the effects of strobe lights mounted on the side and front of trains, ditch lights illuminating the side of the track and track-crossing lights, which are a flashing variant of ditch lights. All these solutions produced statistically significant increases in train detection distances and the greatest increase resulted from the use of all three.

“Accidents during night-time represent a significant proportion of total road deaths, suggesting that decreased visibility might play a significant role in why crashes are happening,” said Dr Wren.

“More than 20 organisations nationally, including peak road transport bodies, are supporting the push for better lighting on trains.”

In the interim, the ATA and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) have issued a crucial safety notice to help truck drivers remain vigilant at level crossings. The National Level Crossing Safety Notice includes simple advice for drivers to remember.

“If you live in a constituency with a passive level crossing, you must write to your local politician and explain the dangers that poorly lit trains pose to your community,” said Dr Wren.

“If you have drivers working for you, it's your job to make sure they have all the tools they need to do their job safely.

“If you're a driver, then you owe it to your family and your loved ones to make sure you come home to them.”

“You don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out that trains take longer to stop than trucks, and trucks take longer than cars to stop, so there are some serious issues there for us,” said Sal  Petroccitto, the NHVR’s CEO.

“As Chris has indicated, we have released that safety notice (that) is more than just a piece of paper.

Sal Petroccitto also pointed out that compliance with road rules remained very important.

“Any controlled crossing that has a give way or stop sign is a road rule issue: if you fail to obey it, you're breaking the road rules,” said Mr Petroccitto.

“I can assure you that there are now cameras on trains and on crossings.

“If (the NHVR) sees systemic ,continual bad behaviour by operators … and we see that it's a repeat behaviour, we will be looking at it from a primary use perspective.”

Sal Petroccitto said that the NHVR is working with the National Rail Safety Regulator (NRSR) on a unified and standardised education program and also with the with the NRSR, Austroads and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) on better data capture, better data sharing and how that data is better utilised, in the way assessments are being done at level crossings.

The NHVR is continuing to seek rail information for its spatial map and portal and has approached ARTC, the state jurisdictions and private rail operators to make that information available.

Mr Petroccitto also said that the NHVR is testing some technology at the moment that can  send driver alerts about critical crossings, to help drivers navigate them.

“We are committed to working with the ATA on whatever additional advice or information can be done and we continue to advocate to ensure that the heavy vehicle sector is not considered the bad player in the room,” said Sal Petroccitto.