RailFail campaign to push for safety changes as Federal election looms

As the Federal election looms, 12 families who have lost loved ones to rural rail crossing accidents have joined to launch a “David and Goliath” social media campaign to push for better train visibility and rail safety standards. The RailFail campaign, which began October 28, is calling on the Federal Government to legislate mandatory train and rolling stock lighting, and to ensure that rail corporations install “proper” safety measures at all rural and regional rail crossings across Australia. Between July 2014 and December 2022, there were 7839 near hits, 322 collisions, 39 fatalities and 49 serious injuries at level crossings nationwide, according to figures from the Federal Government’s National Level Crossing Safety Strategy. The campaign will include video testimonials from individuals who have lost loved ones to level crossing accidents through the years. This includes a testimonial from Murchison pastoralist Lara Jensen, whose fight for mandated train lighting standards has been a decades-long ordeal. Ms Jensen lost her brother and two friends when a loaded grain train struck her brother’s Toyota at a passive level-crossing near Jennacubbine in 2000. The incident happened at dark, and the then-WA coroner Alastair Hope concluded none of the occupants of the vehicle saw the oncoming train. Consequently, Mr Hope recommended immediate action for all locomotives be fitted with external lighting in addition to ditch lighting to warn motorists. More than two decades on, there is still no legally mandated standard for train lighting. ‘I never thought when Christian died nearly a quarter of a century ago that nothing would change,” Ms Jensen said. “We’re now in 2024. My husband and I have four little kids. Little kids my brother will never meet. “I’m beginning to fear railway crossings will still be as dangerous by the time my kids learn to drive.” The RailFail campaign is joined by 20 organisations, including the National Farmers Federation and the Australian Trucking Association, all of who have long backed the push for mandated train lighting standards. Country music star Lee Kernaghan also threw his hat in the ring and provided a video testimonial for the campaign. He said it was “unacceptable” that there was no legal lighting requirements for trains. “For decades, we have campaigned to save lives and been met with an obstructive rail industry, a toothless regulator and successive governments unwilling to force the most basic safety reforms,” Ms Jensen said. “As a result of this inaction, we’ve needlessly lost many more people at rail crossings and the figure grows every year.” Ms Jensen noted how other industries, including the trucking industry, have stringent mandatory and enforced lighting regulations that road transport operators need to follow. “It’s crazy that trains, which hurtle across more than 20,000 level crossings in the country and can be up to 1.8km long, only have similar lighting to the tiny light you see on motorbikes.” Earlier this year, Durack MP Melissa Price Price and Merome Beard MLA tabled a petition calling on the Federal Government to legally mandate train lighting standards. The petition had amassed 6600 signatures, however, Federal Transport Minister Catherine King showed no sign of actioning the calls. Ms Jensen said she and all the other families are facing a “David and Goliath battle”. Despite this, she said push for change in the system is “a battle worth having”. “We’re up against ASX-listed rail corporations with the deepest pockets and teams of spin doctors, lobbyists, and lawyers. ‘We don’t have those resources but what we do have is the facts documenting the rail industry’s failings and love and grit in equal measure. “Together, we’re giving our all to ensure the deaths of our loved ones count for something.”