No more collisions

Wiltons Rd resident Janine Vollebregt would not take "no" for an answer in 11 years of campaigning against an uncontrolled rail crossing nearby.

She has finally managed to get discussion started between KiwiRail, Carterton council and the community on a crossing where two young people have died in the past 11 years.

In May 2002, Carterton man Daniel Quin was killed when he drove his ute into the side of a train.

In February, Carterton schoolgirl Grace Ellen Diedrichs, 15, died when the driver of the ute she was a passenger in collided with a southbound commuter train.

It was also the scene of a non-injury collision in October 2002.

Mrs Vollebregt began campaigning for the crossing to be upgraded in 2002, after the first fatality.

After Mr Quin died, Mrs Vollebregt met the then Carterton Mayor Gary McPhee and discussed her concerns about the uncontrolled crossing.

"He said he would talk to KiwiRail and he just came back to me one day and said no, it's not going to happen," Mrs Vollebregt said.

She said Miss Diedrichs' death, this year, prompted her to make another, more formal, appointment with Carterton Mayor Ron Mark.

"I thought enough's enough, KiwiRail can't not be interested."

She believes a far more effective warning system is needed to prevent any more deaths in the community.

Earlier this week, Mrs Vollebregt met councillors, roading engineers and KiwiRail to discuss options to make the crossing safer. Suggestions included, rumble strips, chicanes, judder bars, or a combination of any of these.

Mrs Vollebregt wants to see a partnership between KiwiRail, the council and the community.

"We want less deaths in our community, KiwiRail need to have less trauma for their train drivers and improve their safety rating so it's got to be a win for them too."

She said suggestions from the meeting would go back to the council, which would decide on two or three options to be trialled.

Mrs Vollebregt said although flashing lights and bells would be preferable, Wiltons Rd apparently did not meet the criteria to be on KiwiRail's upgrade priority list - despite the two fatalities.

Carterton has 17 level crossings, 11 of which are protected by flashing light and bell automatic alarms and six, including Wiltons Rd are protected by signs alone.

Information from KiwiRail states that in the past 10 years there have been seven collisions between trains and vehicles in the Carterton district, at Matarawa Rd, Watersons Line, Hodders Rd, Victoria St, Andersons Line and Wiltons Rd.

"Every passively protected crossing except Moffats Rd has had one or more collisions in the last 10 years," a KiwiRail spokesman wrote.

KiwiRail said all of these crossings, with the possible exception of Moffats Rd, should be treated consistently when considering safety improvements.

According to KiwiRail none of the passively controlled crossings carry "sufficient traffic to justify the installation of FLB (flashing lights and bell) alarms ... and therefore none appear on our national Road Level Crossing Upgrading Priority List".

When spoken to earlier this year, KiwiRail said: "The crossing carries an estimated fewer than 170 vehicles per day, which equates to less than 65 per cent of the traffic necessary to justify the installation of flashing lights and bell alarms."

KiwiRail has estimated it would cost $120,000 for a complete FLB alarm system and says that about 15 per cent of level crossing collisions in the past 10 years have occurred where half-arm barriers plus flashing lights were installed at the time of the collision.

It said safety at level crossings was largely down to the sensible behaviour of people using the crossings.