Friday, December 13, 2024

Safety Message: Level Crossings and the Importance of Ongoing Risk Assessment

ONRSR’s concerns about the subject active level crossing stemmed from occurrence data that revealed there had been 14 near hit occurrences at the location over a 10-year period. At a national level, during 2023-24 there were 333 near hits involving heavy rail passenger and freight trains and a vehicle at active level crossings.

The subject level crossing location is high-risk due to the complexity of the road/rail interface – the rail line runs between two bi-directional roads – as well as the high speed of rail traffic (90 km/h) and recent industrial development in the area.

While the location had compliant road design, was subject to several ALCAM (Australian Level Crossing Assessment Model) assessments, and had boom gates, flashing lights and bells (the highest level of protection) in place, the incidence of near hits indicated to ONRSR that further risk assessment was needed.

ONRSR subsequently met with the road manager and rail transport operator and carried out a site inspection at the location and several issues were identified. They included a loss of synchronisation in traffic signals which potentially impacted the effectiveness of controls used to clear vehicles which become ‘stacked’ – or trapped – on the crossing when the flashing lights activated.

A grade separation scheme which closes the level crossing is the preferred long-term solution, but all parties have identified multiple short-term opportunities to improve safety at the location. Among them are enhanced signalling and other road traffic controls and markings to ensure road users are encouraged to use the crossing as designed.

This situation reinforces the criticality of ongoing risk assessment for managing safety. In such level crossing scenarios, rail transport operators need to be aware of ongoing changes in the rail and road environment and work with road managers to respond to those changes through their interface agreements.

ALCAM is a robust tool for assessing level crossing hazards, but it is not a comprehensive risk assessment process and needs to be used in conjunction with consideration of other factors including:

• Collision and near-hit data
• Rail and road engineering experience
• Local knowledge of driver or pedestrian behaviour
• Social and economic assessment
• Standards and international best practice.

The Rail Safety National Law requires rail infrastructure managers to seek to enter into interface management agreements with road managers which cover all stages of the risk management process including implementation, maintenance, evaluation and change to control measures.

These agreements need to be continuously monitored and reviewed to ensure that the risks to safety arising from a level crossing are appropriately managed. Any change to an interface agreement should also be reflected in the rail infrastructure manager’s risk register and safety management system.

ONRSR is asking all rail transport operators and road managers to review their interface agreements and safety management systems in the context of this example and the advice provided. ONRSR may seek information from rail infrastructure managers on the safety risks of their level crossings and the proposed measures to reduce these risks and improve safety as part of their annual reporting requirements.

For further information or to discuss this matter, please contact your local ONRSR office.