Article: Boom gates for deadly rail crossings

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Boom gates for deadly rail crossings

Boom gates for deadly rail crossings
Tony Moore | January 24, 2009 - 5:54AM

Boom gates will be added to the two North Queensland rail level crossings where three people died late last year, the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) has revealed.

And an extra railway electrician should be employed in North Queensland to specifically help with warning signs and the installation of boom gates.

Eight extra CCTV cameras are going to be introduced - including four in metropolitan areas and four in regional Queensland after talks with police.

This follows a meeting in Townsville yesterday of Queensland Rail's Level Crossing Task Force.

However the boom gate installation could take up to 12 months because at present there is no electricity at the Rungoo and Conn crossings, both on the Bruce Highway near Cardwell.

Two train drivers, Rick Wetherell and Mick Smithers, both from Townsville, died in November at the Rungoo Crossing, about 20 kilometres south of Cardwell.

On New Years Day, father-of-two Terry Brown died at the level-crossing near Conn near Cardwell when the garbage truck he was driving collided with a passenger train.

Les Moffitt, the senior-vice president of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, said the task force had discussed getting electricity to these sites with the local mayors.

The Task Force has also recommended a railway electrician be employed at Cardwell in the future.

Mr Moffitt said he was reasonably happy with these Task Force's recommendations.

"QR said they wouldn't object to the rail electrician appointment," he said.

The two crossings where boom gates will be added are in isolated areas.

Mr Moffitt said the Task Force was now discussing how to control the gates if they got stuck down.

"They are halfway between Townsville and Cairns, so it could take two to three hours if they failed," Mr Moffitt said.

"So we are looking at ways of getting around this."

Shane Hinchliff, QR's Networks Regional Asset Manager North, said the meeting had begun the initial work.

"At today's meeting we discussed what further safety measures will be used in each location to fast track the improvements and get the work underway on the ground as quickly as possible," he said.

"Each location is unique and we discussed different upgrade work that could be carried out including installing boom gates, flashing lights, reducing road speed where applicable, improving warning signs and road markings and using CCTV cameras to monitor motorist behaviour."

Queensland Rail bought forward $10 million for immediate work on eight rail level crossings identified after examining 500 sites after the November double fatality. A further $12 million is still available.

Urgent plans have been developed for the other six level crossings - all in North Queensland.

This includes crossings at Fairleigh near Mackay, Big Red near Bowen, at Brandon, Cardwell, Aerodrome Road near Mundoo and at Garradunga Road, near Garradunga.