{"id":44394,"date":"2024-05-15T17:20:35","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T07:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=44394"},"modified":"2024-05-15T17:20:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T07:20:46","slug":"peak-rail-union-says-train-drivers-are-becoming-desensitised-to-near-misses-and-crashes-in-tasmania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=44394","title":{"rendered":"Peak rail union says train drivers are becoming desensitised to near misses and crashes in Tasmania"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The state\u2019s peak rail union says train drivers are getting desensitised to near misses following a crash at a level crossing in Tasmania\u2019s North-West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emergency services were called to Stony Rise Road in Devonport around 6am on Wednesday<\/a> after a train hit a ute and was dragged along the tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TasRail CEO Steven Dietrich said state-owned body and police were still investigating the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnfortunately, this particular vehicle seems to have stranded at the level crossing and was unable to remove itself from the track before the train approached the level crossing and collided with the vehicle,\u201d Mr Dietrich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVery fortunately, there were no injuries, but the impacts are lasting, particularly on our train driver and the young loader operator that was with the train driver at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

TasRail CEO Steven Dietrich at a level crossing in Devonport. Picture: Simon McGuire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause it was just on daybreak, those individuals have got no idea whether there was somebody in that vehicle or not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the second train-related incident over the course of a few weeks after a semi-trailer collided with a train on April 30 at Westbury<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far in 2024, Mr Dietrich said there had been 52 near misses and incidents at level crossings in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just far too many here in Tasmania, and so we\u2019ll continue to educate and promote safety messages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut in the end, it\u2019s just people making the right choices and taking the safety first approach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) Tasmanian Branch Secretary Byron Cubit said the high number of incidents at level crossings was worrying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A semitruck and trailer collided with the front of a train on Marriot St, Westbury on April 29, 2024. Tas Rail conducting investigations on Tuesday. Picture: Elise Kaine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Police and Emergency services at a train crash on Stony Rise Road at Devonport. A vehicle has been hit by a train and pushed along the tracks. Picture: Tasmania Police<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile it is scary, near misses are happening at such a rate where train drivers are actually getting desensitised to it,\u201d Mr Cubit said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a concern. It is an extremely serious issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt can be fatal, and if a driver is involved in a fatality, they have to live with that for the rest of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Cubit said more funding was needed for level-crossing safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat includes further upgrading passive level crossings to active level crossings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat that means is more flashing lights, and we want mobile and fixed security cameras because what is currently happening is the front-facing camera on the locomotive can\u2019t pick up a licence plate number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019d also like to see additional funding for more level crossings with boom gates as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he said all of TasRail\u2019s level crossings meet Australian standards, Mr Cubit said it was \u201calways looking for opportunities for improvements\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The number of near misses and incidents at level train crossings is so high Tasmanian train drivers are becoming \u2018desensitised\u2019 to it. What the union would like to see change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":44398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,2424,320,163],"tags":[472,9231,9,942,9230,7],"class_list":["post-44394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-level-crossing","category-level-crossing-safety","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","tag-australian","tag-devonport","tag-freight","tag-tasmania","tag-tasrail","tag-transport"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44399,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44394\/revisions\/44399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}