IN FOCUS
LEVEL CROSSINGS
BUS-TRAIN INCIDENT PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON ‘LEVEL CROSSINGS’ Yellow box marking and freight train usage while rail-replacement work is underway were just some of issues highlighted via a recent government report analysing an incident where a coach was struck after stopping foul of tracks on a level crossing in Geelong, Victoria, last year.
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Above: The train hit the front left of the coach after the driver stopped the coach partially on the level crossing. Opposite: The investigation notes the acute roadto-rail track angle and the position of the left-front corner of the bus relative to the track may have influenced the driver’s perception of the crossing. 26
passenger coach was struck by a freight train after it stopped foul of a Geelong level crossing when the coach driver stopped on the crossing after boom gate warning lights activated, despite having adequate time to clear the crossing, a recent transport safety investigation notes. The coach, with a driver and single passenger on-board, was operating a rail-replacement service from Melbourne to Waurn Ponds in Geelong on the morning of April 2, 2020, and had just entered the Station Street level crossing when the crossing warning system activated in response to an approaching freight train. The driver of the coach immediately applied the brakes and the coach stopped within the crossing, foul of the first track, it explains. When the crew of the freight train observed the coach, the locomotive driver made an emergency brake application
while the co-driver began to sound the horn. The coach driver heard the train horn and attempted, unsuccessfully, to reverse the coach off the crossing, it says. The train was unable to stop and impacted the front-left corner of the coach. The coach driver and passenger were injured in the collision and
Safety confirmed the coach had stopped past the boom barrier with the front-left corner of the coach foul of the track. The acute road-to-rail track angle and the position of the left-front corner of the bus relative to the track may have influenced the driver’s perception of the crossing, the investigation notes.
Motorists need to be aware that in situations where passenger train services are not operating, freight trains may be operating. were taken to hospital. The coach driver was released from hospital the same day, and the passenger the next day, it states. The subsequent investigation into the incident, conducted on behalf of the ATSB by Victoria’s chief investigator Transport
TRAINS STILL RUNNING “Had the driver not stopped the coach when the crossing warning system activated, there was adequate time to complete the crossing prior to the arrival of the freight train,” said chief investigator Chris McKeown. In an interview with transport
ABC May 2021 busnews.com.au
ABC_405_026-27_InFocus_Geelong coach crash FC.indd 26
18/05/2021 12:03:16 PM
