Rail safety week

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Media Release
Minister for Transport and the Commonwealth Games
The Honourable Stirling Hinchliffe

45 organisations unite to ramp up rail safety campaign

To mark national Rail Safety Week more than 45 organisations across Australia and New Zealand have joined forces to urge travellers to stay safe around our rail corridor.

Minister for Transport Stirling Hinchliffe said Queensland Rail, the Department of Transport and Main Roads, TransLink and the Queensland Police Service had teamed up to support the national campaign and promote rail safety in Queensland.

"These agencies work tirelessly to keep our community safe and are the first to respond when there is an incident or near miss in the rail corridor or if someone tragically injures themselves," Mr Hinchliffe said.

"That's why they have joined forces to encourage people to take responsibility for their own actions, in support of this year's theme – Rail Safety, it's everyone's responsibility."

Mr Hinchliffe said Queensland Rail had today released new footage of people acting foolishly and dangerously around trains to highlight the importance of remaining safe around trains.

"Last financial year, Queensland Rail recorded 249 near misses across Queensland and the reality is that every one of these near misses was avoidable," he said.

"The new footage released today by Queensland Rail shows a young family pushing through the pedestrian gates at a level crossing and narrowly missing an incoming train.

"This incident could have ended in a tragedy for the family.

"The safety of the public, passengers and staff is Queensland Rail's number one priority and people of all ages need to understand that reckless behaviour can have tragic consequences, not only for the person involved, but their family, friends and rail staff."

Mr Hinchliffe said for Rail Safety Week Queensland Rail, QPS and TransLink would be visiting stations and speaking with customers to remind them of the importance of staying behind the yellow safety line, only crossing the tracks at designated crossings when it is safe to do so and remaining alert around trains and tracks.

"Queensland Rail will also be visiting schools to promote the rail safety message and ensure that we instil good behaviours in our young people from an early age," Mr Hinchliffe said.

"Queensland Rail works closely with other agencies all year round to make sure the safety message is reaching as many people as possible, but the reality is that people need to take responsibility for their own actions to keep themselves and others safe.

"Rail Safety Week has been pivotal in raising community awareness about safety around railways throughout Australia and New Zealand for the last 11 years and the Queensland Government is proud to show its support for the campaign again this year."

Rail Safety Week runs from 15-21 August 2016. For more information visit: http://tracksafefoundation.com.au/rail-safety-week/

For more information on Queensland Rail's ongoing community awareness campaigns visit: http://www.queenslandrail.com.au/inthecommunity/railsafety

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Aurizon --> Train drivers continue to experience alarming rates of level crossing incidents

Aurizon - Australia's largest rail-based transport company - is urging the community to stop taking risks at level crossings as it continues to see a high number of incidents across its operations.

Aurizon Managing Director & CEO Andrew Harding says rail safety is everybody's responsibility and is calling on motorists to put the safety of themselves, their passengers and Aurizon's train drivers first.

"Our train drivers operating across the country continue to see high levels of reckless behaviour at level crossings," Mr Harding said.

"Over the past year, our drivers experienced more than 130 dangerous near misses at level crossings because of reckless behaviour by motorists.

"We are urging people in all communities to stop taking risks with their lives and the lives of our drivers. If people continue to take risks, it's only a matter of time before the outcome is fatal.

"For every near miss there is a very real and emotional impact for our drivers and their families.

"When our drivers see a vehicle or a person on the tracks, they can't simply stop or swerve to miss. Even when the emergency brakes are applied, a fully loaded train can take two kilometres to stop, and the outcome can be devastating."

Aurizon's call to action comes as part of National Rail Safety Week, which starts tomorrow (13 August). It is the rail industry body TrackSAFE's annual community awareness week held in Australia and New Zealand and designed to engage the community in safe rail practices.

This year, Aurizon has partnered with TrackSAFE and the Queensland Government on a series of billboards to share the rail safety message.

The billboards are located on the Dawson and Bruce Highways in Central Queensland, and the Pacific Motorway and Gateway North Motorway in South East Queensland.

The message to the community is: Stop. Look. Listen and Think. STAY OFF THE TRACKS.

Aurizon has produced a Rail Safety animation to help educate the community about level crossing safety, available on You Tube.



The TrackSafe Foundation website also hosts a range of rail safety education materials: www.tracksafefoundation.com.au

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https://twitter.com/Aurizon_/status/1028454038935752704

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Queensland Rail --> HEAVY METAL STOPS FOR NO ONE

Remember the following

To protect the safety of you, your family and others at railway crossings:

    Pay attention to signs and signals
    Never enter a railway crossing if the red lights are flashing or the boom gates are down
    Never queue across train tracks Always look out for the second train
    Remember that some railway crossings don't have lights or boom gates.
    At these crossings, always follow the traffic signs and signals before driving on.

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https://twitter.com/9NewsQueensland/status/1028919598286946305