Crossing Safety Improving Says Ontrack
July 31st, 2008
Ontrack says the number of railway level crossing accidents is falling, a trend it puts down to improving the visibility for motorists at some of the most dangerous unprotected crossings. CEO, William Peet, says 10 years ago there were regularly between 30 and 40 collisions a year but over the last three years the average has been trending down into the low thirties. In the 2007 calendar year there were 23 public road level crossing collisions and to date this year there have been eleven. There are roughly 1400 public road level crossings in the country but only about 20% have barrier arms due mainly to a lack of funding stretching back decades and a shortage of skilled staff to install more. However, despite such constraints, Peet says Ontrack is taking steps to improve crossing safety. “Ten years ago, Tranz Rail identified a group of collision black spots that were responsible for about 80% of collisions. There were roughly 30 crossings on the list. Much of the progress on making these crossings safer has occurred since 2005 as we’ve accelerated the upgrade programme.” In the five calendar years between 2000 and 2004, there were only seven upgrades carried out. By the end of this calendar year, Ontrack will have done 27 more with only five left to be upgraded.
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