GLXS 2016

GLXS 2016, June 15, Helsinki
Dealing with LX safety in busy rural environments
All level crossings are accidents waiting to happen
Kaikki tasoristeykset suorastaan kutsuvat onnettomuuksia
Alan Ross, A&K Ross Associates Pty Ltd, Trentham, Victoria, Australia
What can I tell you about LX
safety that you do not
already know?
Typical ‘active’ protection is
not error tolerant
There is a ban on using train
horns at night
In Australia full width boom
barriers are seen as unsafe
Level crossing rules are not a
mandatory part of the road
driving test
The Russian answer
What is the risk of
being killed at a level
crossing?
About 1 in 500,000 (in
Australia)
Train passenger –
about 1 in 10 million
Asteroid or meteorite
1 in 250,000
The rural environment - Kerang, Victoria, 280 km north of
Melbourne, train hit by truck, 11 dead, many injuries
One of the issues is that emergency response in rural
areas can be slow, so more lives are likely to be lost
Lismore, Victoria, interstate
freight main line. Train 4AM3,
1356m long, 4382 tonnes, 112
km/h, 3 locomotives, 64
wagons
Struck by fully loaded rigid
tipper truck with quad axle
trailer - 2 locomotives and 41
wagons derailed as a result.
No ‘dangerous’ goods on
freight train but manifest
included 700,000 bottles of
wine
A truck (similar to the one shown below) struck the second
locomotive at about 70km/h – the area around the crossing was
enveloped in very heavy fog – visibility between 20-50m
The truck driver died
The recovery took 1 week
‘Work – Life Balance’
The truck driver’s previous 7 days
´ Start 0230hrs - 13.5hrs worked
´ 0300hrs - 13
´ Nil
´ 0530hrs - 13
´ 0330hrs - 16.5
´ 0530hrs – 13.5
´ 0340hrs – 3.5 (the day of the crash)
´ Total hours worked – 73 (could have been 80 hours+)
´ *FAID Score 115 – ‘very high’ – ATSB does not recommend that a person
perform safety critical work with a score above 80
* Fatigue Audit InterDyne
Melbourne – Bendigo main line, 1.8 km from Woodend
Station, 160 km/h line speed, 45 trains/day
LX booms and lights can be activated for up to 3 minutes
Road traffic is busy, including 15-20 fully loaded trucks like
this passing daily, from a nearby quarry – full load equals
about 50 tonnes. Road speed 100 km/h, with 80 km/h limit
at crossing. Plans to increase quarry size 3x
2 - 3 times/day there can be a second train coming, in the
opposite direction, same time or soon after
Fog and black ice are common in winter
There is a downhill gradient towards the LX from the west
Trewalla, Central Victoria, truck hits train, 2 dead,
numerous injuries
The only way to make a level crossing completely
safe is to remove it
´ The Melbourne Metropolitan area has around 180 LX
´ There is a plan to remove 50 of the most dangerous over 8 years
´ Outside of Melbourne there are more than 1500 LX in Victoria
´ Around 600 have ‘active’ warning devices, rest (900) are ‘passive’
´ There are no plans to remove any rural or country LX
´ Passenger rail traffic in country areas more than doubled since 2005
´ Heavy road vehicle traffic has increased by 50% in the same period
´ The average maximum weight of trucks has increased by 30%
´ The Woodend LX has the maximum protection currently available
Thank you