One fatality is one too many so the Australian rail industry is taking rail safety to a national level by launching the trackSAFE Foundation on 28 March at the Sydney IMAX Complex.
Last year, 78 collisions occurred at level crossings, 1800 incidents of trespass were recorded and there were 150 suicides and 100 attempted suicides on Australia’s 44,262km rail network.
In an Australian first, 11 rail organisations are contributing to the not-for-profit rail safety foundation which aims to:
- improve level crossing safety;
- reduce the number of people trespassing on train tracks and rail property;
- reduce the number of suicides and attempted suicides on the rail network; and
- provide additional support for rail industry employees who witness or are first on the scene to these traumatic incidents.
Bryan Nye, Australasian Railway Association (ARA) CEO says the Foundation will work with its 11 trackSAFE contributors as well as community and emergency services, government agencies, and the road industry to reduce incidents on the rail network.
“We believe that bringing rail organisations together nationally with key players from many different sectors will bring a fresh, holistic approach to rail safety issues,” Mr Nye said.
“The rail industry is the safest form of land transport but one injury or fatality is one too many.
“Each incident greatly affects our staff and so it is simple really, we want to increase safety in our communities and get our employees home from work safely,” Mr Nye concluded.
The trackSAFE Foundation is an Australian Rail Industry initiative that aims to reduce level crossing, trespass and suicide incidents on the rail network to improve safety within Australian communities and the workplace for rail employees.
For more information, visit www.tracksafefoundation.com.au
