State Government reviews main line level railway crossings in WA

A Midwest pastoralist is concerned an increase in rail freight during harvest could lead to more road deaths if safety is not upgraded at passive rail crossings.

Wondinong station pastoralist Lara Jensen started advocating for safety upgrades at level crossings after her brother Christian Jensen and his two friends Jess Broad and Hilary Smith were killed when their car collided with a wheat train near Jennacubbine in 2000.

An inquest found no one in the car had seen the train approach due the absence of lighting and warning signs.

Ms Jensen said little has been done to prevent further crashes, with pastoralists worried level crossings could become more dangerous as the freight rail industry expanded.  "The 108 passive level crossings still on operational lines that are only protected by give way signs, they present a serious collision risk," she said.

"It's quite alarming, particularly as we're coming up to another bumper harvest this year… a lot of us are feeling really anxious about this.  "It's all good to have freight on rail … but look after safety first otherwise more people are going to lose their lives."

Ms Jensen said flashing warning lights should be in place at all rail crossings, recommending the replacement of give way signs with stop signs as a minimum standard.

"There's absolutely no cost differential between a stop and a give way sign, and there's no major work involved for Main Roads to replace them," she said.

"I think regional motorists deserve that, at the very least; to be given a signage warning to come to a complete stop because of this train visibility issue."

Crossings under review

The state government has launched a review into signage at all main line level railway crossings across WA.

• Of the 108 intersections controlled by give way signs, 99 have already been visited for assessment by Main Roads WA.

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• Almost all 400 stop signs have also been reviewed, with observations to be used to create a risk score for each crossing.
• Where signs do not meet sight line requirements, Main Roads will consider changing the crossing control.

• A request to introduce a speed restriction may also be made to the relevant rail infrastructure manager.

Ms Jensen welcomed the review but said its findings must not be cast aside. "We've seen quite a few of [the investigations] over the years," she said. "But I'm encouraged by anything that takes a closer look at these safety systems.  "The passive level crossing just remains the most archaic, you know, dated, fallible system safety system on the planet."

A Main Roads WA spokesperson said data on road and rail volumes and speed limits at passive crossings would now be analysed.  A final report is expected to be completed by the end of the year.