Rail Safety Week: Families call on rail operators to improve lighting on trains with 83 deaths per year

Families whose loved ones have been killed by trains are calling on rail operators — including Pacific National and Aurizon — to “show some leadership” and speed up efforts to improve lighting on locomotives and wagons in Australia. The calls come as they await for the results of trials by two of Australia’s biggest rail companies, with CBH this week confirming it and Aurizon were still progressing with its preliminary lighting trials and planned to kick off “full-scale” versions “in the near future”. A group of 12 families, including four from WA, have been calling on rail operators to immediately bolster train lighting. They are also waiting for the Labor Government’s first Budget to be handed down in October, with hopes a $180 million Coalition commitment to make some of Australia’s most dangerous level crossings safer will be carried through. The funding was unveiled in Scott Morrison’s Federal Budget on March 29, just one month after the Commonwealth quietly released its new National Level Crossing Safety Strategy 2022-31. As revealed in Countryman in March, Aurizon — which carts grain for CBH in WA — and Pacific National agreed to test lighting on trains in response to the families’ campaign. A CBH spokesman said the co-operative’s trials were well progressed and it was planning to progress to a “full-scale trial” of both locomotive and wagon lighting solutions in the near future. “CBH’s train visibility projects cover four distinct areas — locomotive headlights, locomotive running lights, wagon lighting, and locomotive livery,” he said. “Working with Aurizon, we developed a framework for a trial involving a lighting solution to be attached to wagons, which considered the longevity, power and angle of the light, as well as the installation, cleaning and maintenance of the light. “Our trials are well progressed, especially with locomotive headlights and ditch lights, and we have completed initial proof of concept trials in the field. “Further engineering work is under way and we expect to progress to a full scale trial in the near future.” The CBH spokesman said a wagon lighting trial was also in progress, with an initial yard trial completed and additional studies to be finalised before “implementing a full field trial”. “With any change to our rail operations, there is a detailed management of change process required,” he said. A Pacific National spokesman said the organisation was working with various groups to develop and implement a series of extensive in-field trials in relation to freight train illumination. This included the Freight on Rail Group of Australia, the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator, and Monash University Institute of Railway Technology. “Pacific National has already fitted a freight train with LED lights which will be trialled on the Hunter Valley coal chain network in New South Wales,” he said. “We are also currently fitting out on a freight train with LED lights which will undergo trials on Victoria’s regedional rail network. “Safety at passive level crossings involves a number of complex factors including line of sight issues associated with historical road and track geometry-like bends on the network and vegetation management and driver behaviour.” Wondinong Station pastoralist Lara Jensen has spent 22 years campaigning for better safety lighting after her brother was killed by a grain train in 2000. After a coronial inquest into the Yarramony Crossing deaths, then-WA coroner Alastair Hope called for immediate action to install external auxiliary lighting on locomotives to provide an effective warning to vehicle drivers, in addition to ditch lighting. The measures were never implemented. Three coroners have since come to the same conclusion. In an opinion piece published in this week’s Countryman, Ms Jensen called on the ONRSR to act to improve “poor safety performance of the rail industry”. “Poor train visibility is a well-documented contributing factor in accidents that take place each year,” she said. “If the rail industry wants to be perceived as demonstrating any duty of care whatsoever ... they should want to do all they can to mitigate the risk.” WA rail safety researcher Brett Hughes recently released a best-practice train lighting concept to send to rail companies and politicians of what should be done to save lives. This includes front outline lights in two colours, side lights, rotating beacons on top, and a flashing light band across the bottom in two different colours. The CBH spokesman said it reviewed Dr Hughes’ concept and believed its actions met, and some instances exceeded, the proposal he recommended.