Good afternoon Patrick

This email is to confirm we have received your OIA request – as specified
below, but broadly outlined as wanting KiwiRail's safety assessments for
the railway crossing at Marsh's Road, Southbrook, Rangiora.

 

KiwiRail received your request on 3 December 2020, and will endeavour to
respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than
19 January 2021, i.e. 20 working days after the day your request was
received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will
notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

 

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me at this email, or
feel free to call on the number below.

 

Kind regards

 

Dave

 

Dave Allard  | Government Relations Advisor

DDI: +64 4 498 3218
Level 4, Wellington Railway Station, Bunny Street, Wellington 6011 | PO
Box 593, Wellington 6140, New Zealand

[1]Description: Description: cid:image001.png@01D46098.E77643D0

[2]www.kiwirail.co.nz

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Dunford
Sent: Thursday, 3 December 2020 5:02 pm
To: KiwiRail
Subject: Official Information request - Safety assessments for Marsh's
Road Railway Crossing, Rangiora

 

CAUTION EXTERNAL EMAIL: Do not click links or open attachments unless you
know the content is safe.

 

Dear KiwiRail,

 

Marsh's Road Railway Crossing, near Rangiora, has been the location of a
number of level crossing accidents involving collisions between road
vehicles and trains over many years. One was reported in the Press
newspaper on 1 December 2020 and others have been reported in newspapers
in the past.

 

It is obvious from examining the layout of the crossing that it
compromises safety for road users by failing to address or remediate a
number of issues listed below.

 

The request is to obtain Kiwirail's safety assessments for the railway
crossing at Marsh's Road, Southbrook, Rangiora.

 

Substantive issues relating to this request are as follows:

 

* The adjacent four way intersection involving Marsh's Road, Station Road
and Railway Road creates a high workload for vehicle drivers. This is
likely to result in drivers whose path through the intersection includes
crossing the railway, being distracted by the workload needed to safely
navigate the uncontrolled road intersection, and therefore being unable to
give sufficient attention to the important safety task of safely entering
and exiting the uncontrolled level crossing if this is required for their
travel.

 

* High workload for drivers was identified by TAIC as a key factor in a
fatal level crossing accident at Rolleston on 25 August 1993. This level
crossing was subsequently closed and replaced by a much safer crossing
nearby.

 

* The level crossing is uncontrolled with no warning devices. This
requires that drivers must be able to stop at the crossing and check there
is no train in view in both directions. However this is impossible to
achieve for vehicles approaching the crossing from the west side
especially if they are turning off Railway Road because they will not have
visibility in both directions because the turn is too close to the railway
crossing. For vehicles coming off Station Road, they must be able to make
this assessment before entering the intersection, at a point where their
view of the railway track is likely to be impeded by other vehicles and
the workload distraction issue mentioned above is also signficant.

 

* The crossing has insufficient stacking distance for vehicles approaching
the railway crossing from the west. Stacking distance is essentially the
distance needed for a vehicle to stop clear of the railway tracks safely.
This affects the ability of vehicles approaching from the west to be able
to stop clear of the intersection before entering the railway tracks.
Vehicles crossing from the east side may be unable to clear the tracks
before pulling up at the road intersection to wait for an opportunity to
pass through the intersection safely in order to continue travelling in
their chosen direction.

 

* There are a number of railway crossings in Waimakariri District that
have similar safety issues including those where there have been
accidents.

 

* Kiwirail has identified at least 362 crossings throughout New Zealand
affected by insufficient stacking space. This list was provided to TAIC
and is referred to in an article on their website watch list. The question
is whether this crossing is included in the list, and what Kiwirail is
intending to do in regard of crossings with this type of issue.

 

* Numerous similarly dangerous crossings exist around NZ yet there is no
accountability or openness from Kiwirail regarding their level crossing
safety programme. Information in the ALCAM website is blocked from open
access.

 

* TAIC has highlighted in its website article that an unsatisfactory
safety regime results in lack of public accountability for level crossing
safety issues. This must include the lack of openness in the availability
of information relating to railway crossing safety.

 

Yours faithfully,

Patrick Dunford

 

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This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[3][FYI request #14237 email]

 

Is [4][KiwiRail request email] the wrong address for Official Information
requests to KiwiRail? If so, please contact us using this form:

[5]https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[6]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

 

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References

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2. http://www.kiwirail.co.nz/
3. mailto:[FYI request #14237 email]
4. mailto:[KiwiRail request email]
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6. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

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Good afternoon Patrick

I have tried contacting you to see if there was a better contact address
for you, but no luck.

 

Please find attached our response to your OIA enquiry about the Marsh Road
Crossing.

We apologise that it appears you did not receive this at the time it was
written – we have looked through our files and while the response letters
were drafted, and there were contemporaneous emails between KiwiRail
staff, we could not find the final email to upload the response to
FYI.org.

 

Please feel free to get in touch with me directly if you have any further
questions.

 

Kind regards

 

Dave

 

Dave Allard  | Senior Government Relations Advisor

DDI: 027 201 8182
Level 4, Wellington Railway Station, Bunny Street, Wellington 6011 | PO
Box 593, Wellington 6140, New Zealand

[1]Description: Description: cid:image001.png@01D46098.E77643D0

[2]www.kiwirail.co.nz

 

References

Visible links
2. http://www.kiwirail.co.nz/