Reef Coombes. Photo / Tim Hales
Government rail agency Ontrack has ignored a coroner's recommendation to fit barrier arms at the railway crossing where 6-year-old Reef Coombes was orphaned last year.
South African migrants Brent Coombes, 39, and his wife Renee, 35, died when their northbound car collided with a freight train at the
Ohingaiti rail crossing at an S-bend on State Highway 1, southwest of Taihape, last July.
In the impact, the car Brent was driving was flung into the air before crashing to earth and rolling 50m.
Reef, then 5, who was in the back seat, was pulled from the wreck with minor injuries. She now lives on Auckland's North Shore with her aunt and uncle.
Following an inquest last December, Palmerston North coroner Timothy Scott found neither Brent nor train driver Paul Johanson was at fault but sunstrike was believed to be a factor.
Scott recommended a "suitable backing board or sunscreen board" be installed behind the flashing warning lights facing down State Highway 1 to the south.
He also advised that Ontrack, which owns and manages New Zealand's rail network for the Government, should install suitable barrier arms "as soon as possible".
Ontrack has installed a sunstrike board but no barrier arms, much to the disappointment of Kim Smith, Brent's sister and Reef's adoptive mother. "Ideally, it would be good to have the barriers up. I know they cost money but you can't put a price on people's lives."
The Ohingaiti crossing is one of only three level crossings on state highways in the North Island with no barrier arms, a warning device that costs $150,000.
Ontrack spokesman Kevin Ramsha said they were not needed at Ohingaiti because the S-bend and level crossing will be replaced during Transit's $10.5 million highway realignment.
"We have not installed barrier arms but we have brought the crossing forward on our priority list for upgrading," said Ramsha.
"Our capacity to install lights and bells or barrier arms is limited by cost and the availability of technical staff to design and install the equipment."
Ramsha said Ontrack organised priority lists based on collision history and the level of road traffic. Last year's collision at Ohingaiti was its first.
- Jared Savage
