The railway crossing on St Jude St, Avondale, is absolutely infuriating. Westbound trains trigger the barrier arms and red flashing lights just as they are pulling up to stop at the Avondale Station. Traffic on St Jude St is then held up for several minutes behind the barrier arms, watching the train sitting stationary (pardon the pun) at the station. Driver frustration mounts as the minutes tick by, with the risk that infuriated drivers could endanger themselves and others by attempting to drive around the barriers. This needs to be rectified.
Peter Matthewson, Avondale
Staff at KiwiRail can understand your frustration at seeing a train sitting at the station, with the barrier arms down and the train not moving. KiwiRail says keeping the public and trains safe is paramount and to do this it is vital to ensure vehicles and trains stay apart - they simply don't mix. This is done by linking train signals to level crossing protection systems, that is the lights, bells and barrier arms that warn motorists and pedestrians a train is coming.
The signalling system uses international design principles so the starting point for level crossing alarms being triggered varies depending on whether a train is stopping. When a train is stopping, track sensors recognise the train's arrival and there is a standard wait time for passenger movement. Once that is over, the next set of signals is triggered to allow the train to move when ready, in this case including the level crossing barrier arms.
At the St Jude crossing the warning time is 29 seconds. This is calculated based on the fastest possible train and, if stopping, the normal stopping time. If the train is slower than the fastest train or stops at the station for longer than the standard wait time, the alarms will operate for longer than 29 seconds. On occasion there may be a second train approaching the crossing. In this case the alarms will continue to operate until the second train has also passed over the crossing.
When travelling on Mt Eden Rd and wanting to turn into Normanby Rd, who has the right of way: traffic travelling north and wanting to turn right into Normanby or traffic heading south and wanting to turn left? The general tendency is for the right-turning traffic to have right of way but recently I was nearly collected by a left-turning car not stopping. Observation and Google satellite images confirm that both sets of traffic have similar give-way markings.
