Monash, Victoria: Timetable blamed for exacerbating peak hour delays

A change to the railway timetable is being blamed for increasing the delays suffered by motorists at the Hughesdale and Clayton level crossings in Monash. Increased wait times had been predicted by the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria. The new timetable introduces seven more trains to the peak hour service on the Cranbourne – Pakenham line.

The peak hour closure to road of the Poath Road level crossing in Hughesdale has been increased, according to media reports, to 31 minutes with the barriers lowered for as long as five minutes at a time. At the Clayton Road level crossing the peak hour closure has reached, a more acceptable, 23 minutes.

The situation was only slightly better at the Clayton Rd level crossing, where the gates were down for about 23 minutes of the total hour. The timetable changes have added seven more peak-hour services to the Cranbourne – Pakenham line, which runs through Monash’s level crossings.

There are presently no plans to grade separate either the Poath or Clayton Road level crossings.

Traffic police in Victoria have concluded a month long initiative straddling the third anniversary of the Kerang accident to identify motorists who fail to use level crossings safely in and around Swan Hill and Kerang. The collision between a truck and a train in June 200 led to 11 fatalities, all of them people who were travelling on the train.

Despite the accident at Kerang, Police have ticketed 22 motorists for offences at the crossing at which 11 people died. A further eight motorists have been ticketed for offences at other level crossing in the north west of the state.

All those who have been ticketed were exceeding the 80kph speed limit at level crossings introduced after the Kerang disaster.

The third anniversary of the Kerang level crossing accident in which 11 people were killed is but one of many level crossing accidents going back to 2002 for which a Coroner’s Inquest has still to be held. With a backlog of 29 involving deaths at 15 level crossings, the Victoria State Coroner has a difficult act to balance the rigour of the inquests with concluding them in a reasonable time.

The latest position as a result of a recent directions hearing is that the Kerang Inquests would begin on January 18th, 2011 with consideration of medical response issues. The Inquest will then be adjourned until July 18th, 2011, more than four years after the accident, when truck design issues; railway and road infrastructure issues; and, human factor issues.

The inquest into the Trawalla accident will follow later in 2011 after which the Coroner will move to consider the other accidents involving personal vehicles. However, the Coroner has still to decide which of these will be investigated by “open inquest” rather than procedurally without formal hearings.

A further complication is whether the inquests should be held under the old or new Coroners’ Act which has come into force subsequent to each of the accidents. Coroner invited submissions from the parties regarding the question

Victoria: Municipal authorities call for increased funding

Municipal authorities in Victoria are calling for the state government to further increase the funding they provide to address level crossing issues. The latest call is driven by the view that the closure times associated with level crossings in Murrumbeena and Carnegie have become unacceptable. However, the local councils admit ththe there are worse problems at other crossings.

The Victoria Department of Transport position is that the May 2010 budget included AU$1m to study the need for grade separations on the Dandenong rail corridor. However, argue, local authorities argue that this is insufficient if crossings on local roads are also to be addressed.

Queensland: Plea for care at cane sugar railway crossings

There are hundreds of passive level crossings on Queensland’s cane sugar hauling railways which are operational on a seasonal basis. Each year the start of the sugar cane harvest and the associated presence of trains on the extensive narrow gauge railway system that serves the industry, catches out motorists who are habituated not to expect a train.

It is in this context that operators of cane sugar railway systems make their plea for motorists to be vigilant at all level crossings and to approach them on the basis that they expect to see a train. Traffic police are working with the cane sugar railways to get across the need to approach level crossing with caution and to cross only when they have established that it is safe so to do.

Motorists also need to understand that level crossing offences are the same regardless of whether it is a core Queensland Rail route or a seasonally operated sugar cane railway. If a AU$300 for failing to drive as required when faced with a level crossing on the “big” railway, it also applies on the “little” railways.

Moorabbin, Victoria: Police could have a field-day with red runners

Police in Moorabbin, Victoria are well aware that there is extensive road user abuse of the North Road level crossing. With multiple offenders each time the level crossing closure sequence initiates, there are plenty of motorists who choose to ignore the requirement to stop when the red flashing lights activate. Indeed a recent exercise identified as many as thirty red runners on a single occasion.

Now that the scale of the issue is abundantly clear there is no excuse that should prevent the taking of converted action to eliminate the temptation to run the red. With a fine of AU$584 for crossing when the red flashing lights are active and legislative provisions which allow for a motor vehicle being seized for this level crossing offence; a high-profile enforcement blitz would go a long way to change behaviours, particularly if repeated randomly several times a year.