Crew need a pass mark before mowing

Volunteer Murry Norman says 'look left', 'look right' signs would be the answer. Photo / Dean Purcell

Three men went to mow - but were told they could not cross a railway line to get to grass after flunking a safety exam.

The trio, who need to step across new railway tracks to access a reserve in Onehunga, have been prevented from doing their jobs after failing the multi-choice test at the end of a day-long course.

"For our needs it was way over the top and unfortunately it was very, very detailed," Auckland City parks services manager Mark Bowater said yesterday.

"I've heard it was an incredibly detailed course, probably more appropriately aligned to contractors working on the railway lines themselves. The staff we had on it, although they are qualified horticulturists, just couldn't absorb that information in a day."

Mr Bowater said the council appreciated the risks around railway lines, but was trying to work with KiwiRail to find a course more appropriate to the contractors' needs.

"If KiwiRail doesn't have a suitable course, we'll be asking them if they can customise something to assist us in doing our job."

Bywater Reserve volunteer Murry Norman, an Onehunga resident who declined an offer to take the course, is at a loss to understand what should be so complicated about walking across a metre-wide set of railway tracks.

"How could a day be filled when the simple signs that KiwiRail put up for pedestrians at all designated pedestrian crossings say all you need to know? They use two simple black-on-yellow signs - one says 'Look left' and an arrow points left and the other says 'Look right' and an arrow points right."

Mr Norman said the rail tracks were straight for hundreds of metres in both directions from the reserve and most people were bright enough to know if "a huge iron leviathan" in the form of a train was bearing down on them.

"It's far more dangerous crossing the road," he said at the Princes St site yesterday.

KiwiRail fenced off the railway line before passenger trains began running to Onehunga last month, every 30 minutes in peak periods and hourly at other times, but it has installed a padlocked gate for restricted access to the reserve.

KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn has told Mr Norman in a letter that the rail corridor is "a high-risk environment that leaves little room for error and the safety of those who enter it can never be compromised".

Arrangements were being made for a repeat training session for the contractors who would meanwhile be provided with "the necessary protection" while carrying out their duties.

KiwiRail spokeswoman Jenni Austin said that meant contractors would be escorted across the rail corridor until they passed a short multiple-choice test at the end of the ITD-R (Individual Train Detection-Restricted) training course.

She said the course was the most basic available and usually lasted about four hours, to include "a video showing some safety scenarios, some specific instruction on appropriate actions and an on-site visit to practise those behaviours".

"We have an obligation under the Railways Act to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of all those crossing the rail corridor - it is an obligation we are not in any position to ignore."