Sounding alarm on risky behaviour across SA railways

Tuesday, 6 August 2024

Confronting footage of close calls between pedestrians and trains and trams on Adelaide’s network has been released in a bid to reduce the number of near misses on South Australian railways.

The alarming vision is being released to mark Rail Safety Week 2024, highlighting some of the reckless or careless behaviour of pedestrians and motorists across our rail networks.

The videos, part of a new Real life doesn’t rewind campaign, will begin playing today across the Adelaide Metro rail network, on social media, television and through geotargeted messaging.

Posters with a QR code that take people to the near-miss videos have also been installed at various railway stations.

So far this year there have been 123 near misses reported across Adelaide Metro’s train network, compared to 132 the same time last year. There have also been 50 near misses recorded across Adelaide’s tram network so far in 2024.

In one incident captured on 19 January 2024, a man jumped over an activated pedestrian gate at Broadmeadows and attempted to cross the tracks - seconds before a train travelled past.

While this incident did not result in tragedy this is just one shocking example of the dangerous behaviour captured across the state’s busy railways. Between 2019 and 2023 there were 582 near misses and 34 collisions recorded, sadly resulting in eleven lives lost.

Near misses and collisions with pedestrians and vehicles have long-lasting impacts, not only for those injured or killed and their families, but for the train drivers and their families, emergency service workers and the wider community.

Across South Australia there are 471 pedestrian crossings and 555 level crossings, highlighting the need for everyone to exercise caution and to pay attention to the signs and signals in place.

A typical passenger train weighs around 140 tonnes and can travel at speeds of up to 110km/h. If an emergency brake is activated a train at full speed needs 470 metres of track to be able to stop safely. Freight trains, which can weigh up to 10,000 tonnes, need more than one kilometre of track to stop.

As part of a broader national Rail Safety Week campaign, regional South Australians are being told to Expect the Unexpected, a reminder that trains in regional areas can be operating at any time, day or night.

You can see examples of the videos here.