Safety at railway crossings

A common road safety challenge in NZ is around level railway crossings. In the past five years, KiwiRail incident data reported typically 15-25 collisions a year between trains and motor vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists (many of them fatal) as well as hundreds of near misses. Therefore, safe design of level crossings is crucial to reducing these statistics. 

ViaStrada helped to develop KiwiRail’s national guidelines for Level Crossing Safety Impact Assessment (LCSIA) and Pedestrian/Cycle Rail Crossing Design. Recently staff members David McCormick and Nick Reid were certified as LCSIA assessors, allowing them to assess the safety of new or upgraded level crossings around NZ for KiwiRail. Four other ViaStrada staff have also been previously trained in LCSIA assessment.

This rail safety experience has also proven useful when reviewing the safety of transport facilities near railway crossings. For example, Glen Koorey assessed potential rail crossing safety issues associated with the Avondale - New Lynn Pathway (a walking/cycling facility running alongside Auckland’s northwestern rail corridor and featuring five associated level crossings) and the Mountains to Sea Cycleway (featuring a walk/cycle bridge and shared path near the Aramoho rail crossing in Whanganui). 

If you have a site requiring an LCSIA review or need an assessment of layout options for transport projects near railway crossings, we can help.