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Request to alter tractor collision level crossing


Councillor PJ Ryan with Fintan Carroll, brother of Tom Carroll, at the railway crossing in Cratloe. Photograph by Declan Monaghan

Irish Rail has been requested to close, move or alter a level crossing near Cratloe in order to meet its own required viewing distances, following a collision between a tractor and train last year.

Tomás Carroll (49) had a “near death” experience when his tractor collided with a passenger train at the Laghile level crossing at around 2.50pm on June 20, 2012.

Two units of the fire brigade, along with an ambulance from Ennis, rushed to the scene. He was badly shaken by the incident but didn’t require hospitalisation.

A new report by the Rail Accident Investigations Unit (RAIU) revealed that level crossing users at Laghile have to position themselves within the swept path of the train in order to look for trains.

In addition to highlighting the poor viewing distance and “inadequate safety measures” at the crossing, the RAIU made a number of recommendations in order to address the issue.

Having failed to close the crossing, the report pointed out the company attempted to mitigate the poor viewing distances at the crossing by introducing a temporary speed restriction and whistle boards, which proved inadequate on the day of the accident, resulting in Mr Carroll adopting his own systems for crossing such as reading railway signals.

It recommended Irish Rail should review their systems of managing level crossings that fail to meet the viewing distances in its technical standard to ensure any mitigation measure that is introduced is effective at reducing the risk to level crossing users.

Councillor PJ Ryan has requested Irish Rail to provide a proper warning system, which would provide a red light that could be visible at the road side and from the land for the Carroll family when they are making the crossing to avoid the risk of a fatality.

Councillor Ryan said this would not be a major job as there are electric cables overhead of the rail line on poles.

Commenting on the speed restriction placed on the line, he said this defeats the purpose of upgrading the Ennis to Limerick rail line to allow the trains travel faster.

He pointed out the crossing is the only access point for the Carroll family, apart from making a new access point through a protected wood.

Irish Rail spokesman, Barry Kenny, pledged the company would implement the report’s recommendations and have reengaged with local users to achieve the closure of the crossing.

Irish Rail has relocated the whistle boards to 150 metres before the level crossing; fitted convex mirrors to assist vehicles exiting from the field side onto the level crossing and requested the council to put warning notices on the public road.

The report noted the train driver was initially unaware of the collision and continued on to Sixmilebridge Station. There was a substantial delay in alerting and communicating with the emergency services to assist their attendance at the scene.

The tractor was a 1984 David Brown, which was found to be in roadworthy condition.

According to the report, the train was running 20 minutes late when it approached the crossing. There was a temporary speed restriction imposed at the crossing of 40kph. As the train passed through the crossing, the driver felt a slight movement, which he thought was due to a track defect.

“A revenue protection unit officer, who was travelling on the train, was knocked over by this movement. He went to the driver’s cab as the train was approaching Sixmilebridge Station and informed him that the train may have come in contact with a tractor, which he had noticed close to the level crossing as the train passed through.

“The train driver contacted the signalman and reported a near miss, as he did not see the tractor. When the train driver arrived at Sixmilebridge Station, he checked the train and observed slight damage on the right hand side of the train. The driver then informed the signalman that he checked the train and that there was a definite collision,” the report stated.

Tom’s brother, John Carroll, has stated, “Tom has an excellent record as a user of a railway crossing. There has never been an issue with gates being left open or blackguarding it in any shape or form. That has been accepted.

“Even if he makes the crossing, he faces another difficulty getting out on the road because the road is so close to the track. Cars actually pull in from time to time to take a phone call. Tom has been stopped on the track, while he has been waiting for a car to pull away from the gate at the level crossing,” he said.

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