Train Crashes in Australia: Safety and Risk Management

This article discusses the train crashes in Australia due to safety breaches and the importance of risk management in the railway system. It focuses on a specific case study of the Tempe Railway station incident in 2016, where 20 people were killed and 68 were injured. The article also highlights the changes in policy and safety measures implemented after the incident. The Australian government's investment in the rolling infrastructure plan is also mentioned.

STUDENT DETAILS
SAFETY AND RISK
MANAGEMENT

RISK MANAGEMENT 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Overview of Australian train crashes.........................................................................................3
Train crashes due to fault in safety breaches.............................................................................4
Tempe railway station, 9th September 2016..........................................................................4
Change in policy after the incident of a train crash at Tempe Railway Station.........................5
Error controls in Australian railways.........................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Safety risk management formal process which helps an organization to incorporates
the safety system which helps in identifying the hazards, assessing the risk, controlling the
risk and analyzing the measurement of risk (McNeil, Frey & Embrechts, 2015). It is also the
systematic approach to manage the workplace and it helps in providing protection to the
assets of an organization. Furthermore, safety measurements on how to provide insistences to
avoid loss and injuries (Kaewunruen & Remennikov & Murray, 2014). The Australian rail
network has 36.064kms of the track on three major track gauges (infrastructure.au, 2019).
The only small number of railways is governed by the private sector rest all other are govern
either by state or federal or government-owned. In this assignment, there will be a discussion
about the train crashes in the country due to a breach of safety parameters. Selected case in
this study is of Tempe Railway station happened on 9th September 2016. In this train accident
20 people were killed and around 68 people were majorly injured. On this date, passenger
train was crashed with the freight carriage (BBC, 2017).

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Overview of Australian train crashes
The railways of New South Wales (NSW), Australia had faced many incidents and
accidents since 1831. There are many case studies are available which are describing the brief
incident of rail accidents (infrastructure.au, 2019). June 5, 2007 around 11 people were killed
when a semitrailer crashed into v/line passengers train near Kerang in northern Victoria. On
April 28, 2006 two people killed when the train and mini truck crashed with each other near
Beaufort in Western Victoria (Martin, 2019). Cardiff, at approximately 5:00 on April 4,
2016, a Pacific National freight educate with 3 NR classes, stuck with at Cardiff from the
failure of bolts securing an oil clear out tank allowed the oil to escape and this escaping oil
came in contact with warm engine components (BBC, 2017). A passing passenger
immediately contacts the relevant authorities and they immediately took action over it. The
fireplace was extinguished at the least 3 hours after it was first reported. Apart from this in
the year 2010 at Exeter on 24th January, train designated 2224 was traveling on its route from
Medway Junction to Berriman Junction. Suddenly, the last bogie of the train was derailed
(Martin, 2019).
There are many such issues and counting which are happened only because of the
fault in the safety parameters (Sodhi, Son & Tang, 2012). Railways are an important source
of transportation in the nation, thousands of people travel through this medium. It is the
responsibility of the undertaking to take effective measures to avoid such kind of train
crashes and other incidents (McNeil, Frey & Embrechts, 2015). Australian Transport Safety
Bureau (ATSB) provides assistance to all transportation medium in Australia for conducting
security operations. ATSB also make sure that all the guidelines of the Transport Safety
Investigation Act, 2003 (TSI Act) are followed throughout (Murray & Kaewunruen, 2012).

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Train crashes due to fault in safety breaches
Tempe railway station, 9th September 2016:
In this train crash, 20 people were killed and around 68 people were injured when a
passenger train was crashed with freight carriage at Tempe railway station. The freight train
was standing on the loop line suddenly a passenger train with high speed came on the wrong
track instead of running on the mainline track. Police conducted the rescue operation and
hydraulic cutters are called to retrieve bodies. Under this train accident, many people have
lost their life due to the negligence of the railway department (BBC, 2017).
Apart from this, there are many other train crashers issues identified in Australia
where due to the negligence of the railway department such incidents happen. ATSB should
take effective measures and should conclude proper investigation in order to stop such rail
accidents to happen in the future (infrastructure.au, 2019). Railway system is the important
system of the social and economic system of Australia. Considering this, safety and risk
measurements should be calculated effectively. Authorities are requested to take relevant
actions for ensuring safety in the rail system (Martin, 2019). Moreover, authorities concluded
that this accident happens because of the driver, he should be careful when moving on his
route. On this statement, driver conflicted that he was following his usual route. According to
the driver, it is the mistake of the department that they set the same time of freight carriage
when the passenger train was about to approaching (Walls, et. al., 2012).

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Change in policy after the incident of a train crash at Tempe Railway Station
After this incident, the railway department modified more originating traffic rules that
emphasis on providing strength to the Railway infrastructure. Total of 16500kms of railway
trach errors was sanctioned under ATSB. Out of this, renewal of track 14700 km was
completed, the rest part was completed next year (infrastructure.au, 2019). They also demand
additional funds from the federal government. They also introduce new performance
indicators for the locomotives. Parameters before were 52kg/60kg, 90 UTS were changed
with the 52/65kg 90R, 72 UTS (infrastructure.au, 2019). After that, they made few changes in
the welded rails before railways were using fish plated joints. Apart from this, railways
primary focus on eliminating fish plate by connecting the joint with each other. Flush Butt
Welding is introduced by the Australian railway department to convert necessary adjustments
also made in improving the quality of the track, machines, human errors, etc
(infrastructure.au, 2019).
In addition to it, after this incident, it is become mandatory for the external railway's
workshops and supplying organization to be ISO 9001 certified (BBC, 2017). External
suppliers deliver raw material to the railway which used in the making of coaches, wagons,
diesel locos, EMUs, braking system, etc. During the year, they also increased POH outran of
coaches:
2016-2017 2017-2018 % increase
BG coaches 24320 24798 1.9
BG AC Coaches 2811 2978 5.8
BG Diesel Elect.
Logo
404 396 -2.1
BG Elect. Loco 360 390 8.2

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Error controls in Australian railways
Humans are the most strong and weakest link in any embedded system. According to
the ATSB, Australian railway operation requires the involvement of a large number of human
resources thus there are more chances for failure rates if operations are not conducted within
the proper guidelines (Walls, et. al., 2012). The effectiveness of the safety measures in the
railways depends upon the factors like the reliability of the equipment, rail traffic rules,
human errors, alertness shown by the department, etc. There are several areas of railway
transport which includes the probability of human errors (Wullems, 2012). These areas are
signal passing, signaling or dispatching and speed of the train. Thus, human error is
remaining as the major contributor to railway crashes and accidents. In the year 2012, ATSB
had made planning under after the motive to make the railway sector advanced and in the rail
safety interest. Under this plan, key objectives are to install computer-based interlocking,
traffic simulation system, signaling, installing PARA-2.91 engines, and other additional
machines (Nielsen, Raman & Chattopadhyay, 2013).
Apart from this, on their official website of ATSB has mentioned that prime reason
for occurring of human errors is inadequate knowledge of railway employees, memory
lapses, incorrect mental model, etc (Murray & Kaewunruen, 2012). Non-adherence towards
railway guidelines always create hindrance for the general public. Thus, it is a request to read
and follow the railway guidelines thoroughly for ensuring safety (McNeil, Frey & Embrechts,
2015). ATSB is planning to introduce on their official website, a blog column for feedback
from the general public. Machine miscommunication errors are not rarely encountered; these

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errors arise when a machine is unable to get communicate with another machine
(Kaewunruen & Remennikov & Murray, 2014).
The Australian Government is investing over $100 billion for the period cycle of
(2019-2020). This is called a "rolling infrastructure plan" and motive behind this plan is to
manage the need of the growing population, challenge from national freight and to manage
other challenges (Martin, 2019). Moreover, The Australian Government had to introduce an
additional fund of $23 billion into rolling infrastructure plan. This fund is specifically
introduced for the plan’s year cycle of the 2019-2020 year (infrastructure.au, 2019).

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Conclusion
It has been concluded that safety parameters and accuracy of key performance
indicators (KPI) should be the primary aim of the railway department. However, even after
following all the standards design by ATSB there is still a probability that human error many
create hindrance in the performance. Apart from the specific selected article is the issue of
Tempe Railway station on 9th September 2016. The passenger train was crashed with the
freight train, it causes injury to many people. After this, the railway department modifies its
safety parameters and transformed it into the 52/65kg 90R, 72 UTS. Apart from this, the
Australian Government is making efforts for their rolling infrastructure plan and they also
introduce an additional amount of $100billion specifically for the year 2019-2020.

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References
BBC. (2017). Granville: The rail disaster that changed Australia. Retrieved from:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-38645976
Infrastructure.au. (2019). Road and rail deliver. Retrieved from:
https://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/key_projects/road_and_rail_delivery/
index.aspx
Kaewunruen, S., Remennikov, A. M., & Murray, M. H. (2014). Introducing a new limit states
design concept to railway concrete sleepers: an Australian experience. Frontiers in
Materials, 11(2), 18-24.
Martin, L. (2019). BHP runaway train crash: workers applied brakes to wrong turn.
Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/12/bhp-runaway-train-
crash-workers-applied-brakes-to-wrong-train
McNeil, A. J., Frey, R., & Embrechts, P. (2015). Quantitative Risk Management: Concepts,
Techniques and Tools-revised edition. New Jersey: Princeton university press.
Murray, M. H., & Kaewunruen, S. (2012). Reliability-based conversion of a structural design
code for railway prestressed concrete sleepers. Proceedings of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, 226(2), 155-173.
Nielsen, D., Raman, D., & Chattopadhyay, G. (2013). Life cycle management for railway
bridge assets. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal
of Rail and Rapid Transit, 227(5), 570-581.
Sodhi, M. S., Son, B. G., & Tang, C. S. (2012). Researchers' perspectives on supply chain
risk management. Production and operations management, 21(1), 1-13.

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Walls, H. L., Curtis, A. J., Stevenson, C. E., Mannan, H. R., McNeil, J. J., Freak-Poli, R., &
Gabbe, B. (2012). Reductions in transport mortality in Australia: Evidence of a public
health success. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 49, 520-524.
Wullems, C. (2012). Low cost railway level crossings. Sydney: Bloomsbury Publishing.