WA Nationals promise to implement train lighting mandates in first term of office if elected

The WA Nationals have pledged to introduce mandatory train lighting regulations they say are “vital changes” to improve rail safety and help prevent further level crossing accidents across the State. Opposition Leader Shane Love made the announcement at Herne Hill alongside level crossing safety advocate Lara Jensen, who is the spokeswomen for RailFail, a campaign pushing for a nationwide legal standard for train lighting. As part of the election commitment, all trains and rolling stock operating in WA will be legally required to have rotating beacons, side lighting and enhanced reflectors. “This policy ensures that trains operating in WA are as visible as every other vehicle,” Mr Love said. “In remote and regional areas, where poor lighting and increased hazards make visibility crucial, this common-sense solution is long overdue.” Level crossing collisions are the single largest cause of death on the rail network. About 80 per cent of the 23,000 railway level crossings in Australia are passive — meaning they have no boom gates or flashing lights to warn of oncoming trains. Between July 2014 and December 2022, there were just more than 7800 near-hits, 322 collisions and 39 fatalities at level crossings across Australia, according to the Federal Government’s National Level Crossing Safety Strategy. “Everyone has the right to get home safely,” Mr Love said. “The importance of train visibility is no different from vehicle visibility — we have stronger laws for bicycle lighting than we do for trains, and that must change.” The Nationals’ promise comes days after freight train collided with a car attempting to drive over a passive level crossing, an accident his friend said could have been prevented if there had been a boom gate. In response, Mr Love mentioned the past Coalition Government’s $180 million program in 2022 upgrade rural level crossings across Australia, and said the WA State Government was late to making an application for the funding. He said “more certainly could have been done” to improve WA level crossing infrastructure at the time of the program, which was aiding with the addition of boom gates, flashing lights, and better signage to level crossings. Ms Jensen said, while she was not aware of the accident, motorists still had a responsibility to look out for train and use “extreme caution” around level crossings. “Having said that, i’m also aware of several coronial inquests, along with train driver statements, where the driver has obeyed the signage in place,” she said. “In my brother’s case (it was) a give way sign at the road rail interface. A completely unacceptable as a safety system, even in 2000. “We know drivers who have obeyed the signage in place, haven’t seen the poorly lit hazard, they’ve proceeded to cross, and have lost their lives as a result. That is documented evidence.” Ms Jensen, who is also a Murchison pastoralist, lost her brother Christian and two friends Jess Broad and Hilary Smith in a railway crossing incident in July 2000. Following the triple fatality in the Wheatbelt, three State Coroners concluded inadequate train lighting was a factor in the accident. Then-WA State Coroner Alastair Hope recommended all trains and locomotives be equipped with rotating beacons and side lighting. “As the sibling of a young man killed in one of WA’s worst rail crashes, I know first-hand the devastating consequences of inadequate train visibility,” Ms Jensen said. Currently there are no legally mandated requirements for train lighting in Australia. The Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator’s recently released Code of Practice — Train Visibility at Level Crossings offers a list of safety recommendations for rail operators to abide by but has no legal binding. The code does have ministerial approval, meaning it can be used by a court as evidence to determine whether operators properly addressed safety risks, but safety advocates say this is “insufficient”. “It’s actually disturbing that the crashes that have happened, and the coronial inquests that has eventuated from them, aren’t enough,” Ms Jensen said. “But it’s clear that it (the code) is not enough, and I don’t understand why the rail industry is permitted such latitude when every other high risk industry on the planet – construction, mining, civil, aviation – all have to comply with mandatory, legislated and enforced visibility standards.” Ms Jensen thanked Mr Love and the WA Nationals for their leadership on this “extremely protracted safety issue” that has “disproportionately affected” regional communities. “We need all the help we can get. We need politicians to step up with a conscience and say enough is enough,” she said. “They know that people have died in completely preventable crashes, so it’s time they stepped up.”