Rail Safety Week: Northland drivers reminded of the risks crossing tracks

A KiwiRail train heads north through a Regent rail crossing in Whangārei. Photo / File

Motorists are reminded of the risks around the region's level crossings as part of the nationwide Rail Safety Week.

Northland police and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency were urging drivers to especially take care in the early morning when collisions were most likely to occur.

The reminder comes eight months after freight services on the Auckland to Northland rail route were re-opened after months of upgrade meaning more activity on the region's rail network.

Over the past 10 years, five vehicles have collided with a train in Northland. Records showed only one person has been hit by a train on the region's rail network in the past decade.

A Whangārei woman and her children were lucky to escape without injury when her station wagon was hit by a 700-tonne train at the Waipanga Rd rail crossing in Kamo in 2010.

The car skidded on the slippery road when the woman tried to stop at the crossing as the daily goods train approached the crossing on a hill section of the narrow road.

A wagon clipped the Mazda vehicle, which spun and was pushed about 15m to end up parallel with the train tracks.

Close calls proved more common; data shows eight near misses between vehicles and trains, and one near collision between a person and a train since January 2010.

A new study released during Rail Safety Week found more than three-quarters of all serious train collisions with vehicles are in rural areas or provincial towns.

But the numbers also show things are improving - there's been a more than 40 per cent drop in near-misses and collisions in the past four years.

In the year to June 30 there were 31 collisions and 227 near-misses with trains nationwide. The same period to June 2018 saw 54 collisions and 405 near-misses.

In May this year a line painter was killed at a level crossing near Marton in the Whanganui-Manawatū region.

Prior to that, in September 2020 a school bus driver was killed when their vehicle collided with a train at a level crossing in Bunnythorpe, near Palmerston North.

Waka Kotahi chief executive Nicole Rosie said the impact of crashes on families and communities was enormous.

"These are not statistics, they are real people who didn't make it home to their whānau. Many more have been seriously injured from level crossing crashes, often left dealing with life-long debilitating injuries.

"And beyond all of them is a larger community — of families, friends, colleagues, employees, witnesses, first responders, locomotive engineers — all affected in some way."

Northland police urged drivers to obey the warning signs and look for trains before crossing.

"The consequences are too high if you don't."

Staying safe around trains

• Trains can come from either direction at any time.

• Obey warning signs and look both ways carefully.

• Lights or bells mean there's a train coming - by law, you can't cross.

• Trains can be quiet, and faster than you think. They are heavy and can't stop quickly.

• Make sure there's enough space on the other side for your vehicle before crossing.

• If you're on foot, only cross at a formed level crossing or an over/underpass.

• Take headphones off, stop and look both ways.