Take care at crossings, drivers urged

Bernie Henare (pictured) and Chris Cairns are warning motorists about level-crossing dangers. Photo / Natalie Slade

Veteran loco engineer Bernie Henare is eternally thankful nobody was killed or injured when he wiped out two cars while driving trains through level crossings.

In both instances, the car drivers ran free of their vehicles before they became mangled wrecks.

That makes Mr Henare luckier than many of his KiwiRail workmates, who have been powerless to stop their trains when motorists ignored flashing lights and bells.

During a break from driving a test locomotive yesterday through eight level crossings on the 3km Onehunga branch railway line, which is to reopen for passenger services on September 19, he pleaded with road users to be constantly vigilant when approaching train tracks.

He said the driver of one car he hit, in Penrose in the 1980s, waited almost until the last second before abandoning the vehicle.

"I think he was trying to restart the car," recalled Mr Henare, who has driven trains for 36 years.

"I couldn't have hit it more dead centre. It looked like a banana."

Although relieved to see the man run free, he could not be immediately sure there was nobody else still in the car.

Former international cricketer Chris Cairns, whose 19-year-old sister Louise was killed when a truck hit a train in which she was a passenger in 1993, said it was virtually impossible to find a loco engineer who did not have a tale about a crash or close escape at a level crossing.

"Everyone you talk to has a story," he said at the new Te Papapa station, where he was helping to publicise Rail Safety Week.

His Chris Cairns Foundation is involved with KiwiRail in a campaign encouraging train crews to report close calls between vehicles and trains so they can be passed on to the police for investigation.

Since the Call It In campaign started at the beginning of this month, 17 reports have been made of drivers disobeying warning signs and taking risks around railways, 40 per cent at crossings with flashing lights and bells.

One is believed to have been a school bus in the Bay of Plenty.

Mr Cairns said the large mass of trains meant they appeared to be travelling slower than their actual speed, an illusion which tempted too many vehicle drivers to try to beat them to level crossings.

"We are saying: Lose a minute, not your life."

Although nobody has died at a vehicle level-crossing this year, there have been 24 collisions with trains, some causing serious injuries.

Six people have died in other accidents, including one at a pedestrian level-crossing.

KiwiRail, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority and Auckland rail operator Veolia are trying to raise public awareness of the dangers at level crossings between Penrose and Onehunga with the resumption of passenger rail services after 37 years.