Speech of Hon Nathan Guy - Associate Transport Minister - at the Wellington function to mark Rail Safety Awareness Week 2009

Good evening and welcome. I want to thank you all for joining us tonight for the official launch of Rail Safety Awareness Week. To adapt one of your catch-phrases, this annual event is an opportunity to stop, look and think about rail safety.

Before I go any further tonight I would like to acknowledge my Parliamentary colleagues, the Chair of Kiwirail the Right Honourable Jim Bolger, the Chair of ARTA Rabin Rabindran, as well as other transport representatives, and, of course, Chris Cairns, the man who through the Chris Cairns Foundation has become the face of rail safety in New Zealand.

Just this morning, Chris and I visited a level crossing at Silverstream to take the rail safety message directly to students on their way to school.

And when Chris was walking the length of New Zealand in 2008 I caught up with him briefly in Kapiti.  I emphasise ‘briefly’ because his walking pace was practically a jog for me – because of the length of his stride.

Chris, I know you’re investing a lot of time this week visiting schools and getting the message out to the next generation.  We really appreciate having you back on board again this year.

Rail and the Government

As many of you here tonight will be aware, this is my first rail safety awareness week as Associate Minister of Transport. Its three weeks since my transport delegations were confirmed and I have been busy absorbing the briefings I have received as incoming Minister.  While I knew the role would be varied, the diverse nature of transport, and the challenges that lie ahead for the sector, are interesting to say the least.

Looking at the rail portfolio overall, much has changed in the last year. The government now owns New Zealand’s rail network, the Crown has committed to a huge investment programme in Auckland’s project DART, and the responsibility for all rail policy now sits solely with Transport.

This will enable the Ministry to take a stronger approach to multi-modal transport solutions and policy development.

The government has this year also had to face the worst and most concerted global recession since the 1930s.  For this reason, the government has decided to focus its transport portfolio on two key objectives: growing the economy and improving safety.

Tonight, we’re here to focus on safety. The safety of our rail network is imperative. Each week more than 3,000 suburban passenger services, 900 freight trains and 52 inter-city trains travel on New Zealand’s 4,000 kilometre rail network.

We know that statistically, rail is the safest form of land transport, but anywhere that it interacts with other forms of transport, safety becomes a prime consideration.

Trains by their very nature are potentially hazardous – they are heavy, and they take a long time to stop – as was recently seen by the 85 tonne locomotive that ran into the mudslip in Maymorn. This government is committed to increasing rail use, particularly in urban areas and we realise that this increases the potential for rail-related incidents.

As well as the obvious tragic effect a rail fatality has on family and friends of the victim, it also has a social cost. We know that death and injury from road crashes have a total social cost each year of around $3.8 billion.

This takes into account the loss of life, permanent injuries, medical and legal costs and personal property damage.

In the first six months of 2009 there have been 16 train collisions at level crossings. Preliminary figures show this resulted in four deaths and five serious injuries.

What is the Government doing?

So, what is our government doing to address rail safety and reduce the number of deaths on our rail network?

Unfortunately, there is no one silver bullet. Education, enforcement and engineering all have a role to play.

Ontrack continues to invest in the upgrade of our network, particularly at level crossings. It has an upgrade priority list, based on data from more than 60 roading authorities, to ensure that upgrades are allocated fairly and on a consistent basis.

Collision black spots move to the top of the priority list on the basis of their collision record. Normally, these are crossings at which there have been two to three collisions in the last 10 years.

The New Zealand Transport Agency and Ontrack continue to invest in education and advertising to promote the rail safety message. Already this week you will have seen the launch of punchy new rail safety advertisements, courtesy of our rail safety counterparts in Australia.

The New Zealand Transport Agency has also undertaken a recent review of the school education programme ‘Tracks are for Trains’ to ensure that the programme is still focused on connecting with our target audience.

Finally, the Ministry of Transport continues to develop the government’s Rail Safety Strategy. This Strategy will be a guiding document on rail safety and aims to provide an across the board strategic view of rail safety. It will ensure that all the agencies with an interest, including KiwiRail and the New Zealand Transport Agency, have a common understanding of their role in developing a safer rail network.

The government will continue to work hard in this area, but we all have a part to play. I encourage New Zealanders to listen to road safety messages, and to be careful around the rail network. Warning signs and barrier arms are there to protect us all.

Conclusions